The Beginning of The End
by xAlexis
Summary: '"Alright," she said and sprang towards the demon. "I'll see, if I have some time next month and I'll try to squeeze you in, okay?"'  Buffy has changed the world before, but now she has the chance to get rid of all the evil in this world.
1. Prologue: The Decision

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Joss Whedon does. If I really did own Buffy, then why would I write at fanfiction?

000

"Buffy!" Dawn cried, while looking worriedly at the vampires and demons that were approaching. "Buffy, don't do this! Stop! It hurts!" She began crying and sat down. She didn't seem to care that a demon stood beside her with a very big sword.

For a moment Buffy just stopped. Deep inside her, something told her to do what Dawn begged her to do. To just stop and surrender. But she knew she couldn't. Not now.

They had come such a long way. She had traveled all over the world, fighting the evil. She just couldn't do this anymore.

She just was so tired.

Tired of always fighting and losing. Though, she won all of the small fights, did they really count in the long run? Did she really make the world a better place?

Buffy wasn't sure anymore. She wasn't sure of anything. Not anymore. The only thing, she knew, was that she was too tired to continue.

In the cave the demons were winning. Dawn had just sat down crying, and Willow was also begging Buffy to stop. Dead bodies were spread all over the floor. Only Xander and Angel were still fighting, but she knew that it was a lost cause.

'_I have to do it, Dawn,'_ Buffy thought, while raising the axe above the seal, which would end all of it. _'I have to try, though it will probably kill us all.'_

000

A/N: Hey guys and welcome to my version of how 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' could have ended. It will probably be like an eight season and some of Joss Whedon's ideas will be used, but most of it is my idea.

Enjoy the ride, people!


	2. Chapter 1: Changes

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I still don't own 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.

000

A lot can change in one year. A lot can change in one minute. But you don't really know how much can change, before you've experienced it for yourself. Buffy Summers could tell you all about it, if she ever had time to do it.

Her whole life she had experienced changes. When she was fifteen, she was told that she was the Slayer and she had to fight against vampires and demons. She had even experienced the biggest change ever; death. And she had tried it twice.

But not one of the changes, she had experienced in her life, was as hard as this; growing up and making a supernatural army. Or, well, she wasn't sure, if you could call it an army. More like special elite or something. If Riley had been around, he could have told a lot about it, but he wasn't. He wasn't around. Nobody was around to help her.

She was alone.

Alone with twenty girls she didn't even know the names of. She had never been good with names or numbers. Or French. And then it was good that she wasn't in France like Willow, but in Scotland, where they at least spoke English. Or she thought it was English. To be honest, she couldn't understand a word anybody said in the local village. So most of the times, she let the local girl, Mary, talk with the other locals. Then Mary talked with the girl, Rose, from England, who then translated it to Buffy.

A bit difficult.

But it wasn't as difficult as a lot of the other things Buffy had to do in Scotland. Being alone in a foreign country, where she couldn't understand a word, although she spoke English, wasn't exactly a picnic. However, she had picked Scotland, because it was the best option.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

Well, it was a big house that they were living in. At first, she had called it a castle, until Giles told her that a castle was much bigger. As if she cared. It was way bigger than her old house and it was a lot easier having a lot of girls living in a 'castle', than in her old house.

Her old house in Sunnydale was of course not an option, because, well, she had blown it up. Or _she_ hadn't. Blame it on Spike. Blame everything on Spike. Buffy was too tired to take anymore blame. That was why she had asked Kennedy to be on the other side of the globe; in Brazil. Kennedy just wouldn't lay off her, when she had been the leader in Sunnydale, but when she talked to Faith, she sounded also, as if Kennedy had been a pain in the ass.

Kennedy just wanted to lead. So Buffy had given her a position, where she could lead. In Brazil where nothing happened which Kennedy now complained about quite a lot. And with 'quite a lot' it was all the freaking time. Buffy almost considered hiring one of the girls to be her secretary, taking all the calls from Kennedy.

But Kennedy wasn't the biggest change in her life, although it was one of the more pleasant. For the first time ever, the Scooby Gang had broken up. Giles was in Cleveland with Faith and Principle Robin. In Cleveland there was a new Hellmouth, like the one in Sunnydale, although, Giles sounded, as if this one wasn't _quite_ as bad. Well, they were searching for a way to destroy the Hellmouth, but apparently it wasn't easy. For now, Buffy just let them do, whatever they felt like.

Willow was part time in France and part time in L.A. She was sure that she had located another Hellmouth in Paris, but she wasn't sure, so she was investigating that, of course. But most of her time she spent in L.A., where Tara was making sure that nothing happened.

Xander traveled between New York and Washington and Scotland. Most of his time, he spent in Scotland with Buffy, but occasionally, he traveled to New York and Washington, where he functioned as a politician, making sure that none of the leaders were demons, like the Mayor had been. Actually, most of the leaders had been demons, which Buffy and Xander found deeply disturbing.

Buffy had placed Andrew in Italy, where Dawn was studying. The decision that Dawn should study there and not be in Scotland with Buffy had involved a lot of fights, but in the end, Buffy had won, obviously.

The rest of the trained Slayers were all over the world. A lot of them were in Asian and South America, but they were in desperate need for some to travel to Africa and Australia. Right now, Buffy actually thought about going herself.

"Mrs.?" the girl, Rose, said, as she entered Buffy's room. "Am I disturbing something?"

"Oh, no," Buffy tried to smile reassuringly, although she was sure that it looked more like a grimace. "No, just my thinking-time."

Rose just stared at her. _'Maybe she doesn't understand humor,'_ Buffy thought. _'Just like Giles didn't do in the beginning.'_

"Nothing," Buffy sighed. "What do you want?"

"I thought we should go through the news." Rose still stared at Buffy, as if she was wondering, if she was okay.

"Right!" She had totally forgotten all about it, though they did it every evening. "What have you got for me tonight?"

"Well," Rose said and sat down on the floor. "Since you were out, slaying, I have personally taken all the calls. Kennedy has called five times today, complaining about the girls, the demons, the vampires, the cemeteries and the weapons. She also wanted to talk with you, but I told her that you weren't here."

"And how long do you think that excuse will work?" Buffy grinned at her.

"Eh, I don't think that Kennedy believed me, so not any longer," Rose smiled. "Rona and Vi also called from China, saying that nothing happened. Nothing at all. They found it a bit 'scary', but they would call, if they needed help."

"Great, I've never been to China."

Rose just ignored her and kept talking. _'Nope, no humor at all.'_

"Andrew called in for an hour ago. He said that nothing happened and Dawn was well, although she was complaining a lot about a principle or something. Otherwise, she was quite content being in Italy."

"Okay, Dawn's okay. It's probably not Tuesday then."

"I also heard from Mr. Giles, who assured me that all was well in Cleveland. They are still researching on how to close the Hellmouth, but they were sure that they would find something any minute now. He also talked about getting Miss Willow on the research team, but he would consider it a bit more, at first."

"Right, how is Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Well, she didn't call in today."

"That's what? The sixth day in a row?"

"Only the fifth, so I'm thinking about calling her tomorrow, if she hasn't done it tonight," Rose said writing something down in her notebook.

"But why isn't she calling?" Buffy asked, pressing the subject Rose was trying to avoid.

"I don't know," she said after a long pause. "Try talking with her about it."

'_I would, if she would pick up her phone,'_ Buffy thought, but didn't say anything to Rose about it. Rose was a quiet girl, who didn't like conflicts. She focused a lot on the studies that comes with being a Slayer and didn't talk with the other girls.

"What about Xander?" Buffy said and stopped pressing Rose with more information about Willow's behavior. Rose also smiled immediately, when Buffy stopped asking about Willow.

"He had just killed another demon, when he called and told me that he was trying to discover another one."

"How many freaking demons are running America?" Buffy asked incredulously. "What is that? The twentieth demon?"

"Well, I don't have my notebook on Mr. Xander with me, but I think that was the twentieth, yes," Rose smiled.

"Alright, Rose," Buffy stood up and began walking towards her bathroom. "Is that all?"

"Yes, I will go down to the telephones and wait for Willow to call."

"Thanks, and would you please wake me, if she calls, or if anything happens."

"I'll try, Mrs."

After Rose had left her alone, Buffy stepped into her bathroom and took off her shirt and walked towards the shower. It would be nice, spending some time on a hot shower, so she could a bit like a human again. Slaying in Scotland was very muddy.

'_Alone again.'_

But as she pulled the curtain to the side, a very big and very ugly demon grinned at her. It was maybe twice as high, as she was (of course, she wasn't tall, but still) and completely green and it looked very wet. As if _it_ had just taken a shower.

"The Slayer!" it snarled and sprang at her. Fortunately, Buffy was very well trained and ducked, so it flew over her and hit the wall with a bang. Buffy ran towards it, trying to hit it unconscious, before it could attack her again, but when she blinked, it was gone. _'It's dead? Maybe it's like a vampire and it vanishes when it's killed. Or invisibility? I can handle invisibility.'_

Suddenly a damped hand was on her shoulder and she was flipped backwards, hitting the shower and turning it on.

"Oof!" Buffy huffed, trying to get up, when the hand gripped her again, sending her flying against the wall. "Ow!" she winced. "Okay, this is _not_ funny anymore."

Again she tried to rise, but the hand sent her flying into the shower once more. She just sat still and got more and more soaking wet, waiting for the demon to attack once more. But instead, it began talking, "_You_ don't think it's funny anymore? _You_ didn't stop, when you could. _You_ just killed and killed _and killed_, until you couldn't kill anymore. And now _you_ want _me_ to stop, because _you_ don't think 'it's funny anymore'."

"Okay, I get it. You're pissed," she said, trying to get her wet hair out of her face. "And reading between the lines, you're pissed, because I did something." _'Where did I put my weapons to kill this thing?'_

"Still trying with humor, Slayer?" it hissed from somewhere in the bathroom.

"Well, you tried with violence in this relationship and it didn't work out. I've got to try something else, if we have to make this work." _'I'm sure that there is a knife in my bathroom _somewhere_.'_

"Humor again. You still don't get it, do you, Slayer?"

"Well, maybe I would, if you would explain it." _'Or maybe I put it in my bedroom underneath my bed.'_

"You've already said it; 'I'm pissed, because you did something', right? But it's not only me, who is 'pissed', as you put it. We all are. And we're coming, before you can do it again, because you will do it again and you will destroy the world with you, if you have to. You're the only one, who ever had the strength to do such a thing."

"But what did I _do_?" In the same moment, her fingers touched something sharp. A quite small knife, but it was the only thing she had right now. It would have to do. She just had to wait, until the right moment.

"Destroyed the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. You've destroyed one of the places, we can come through. And you will do it again and again, like you destroy us again and again. But this time, we won't let you. We're coming for you."

"Alright," she said and sprang towards the voice. The demon was obviously invisible, but she still hit something very hard. "I'll see, if I have some time next month and I'll try to squeeze you in, alright?" she said and hit the knife into the hard mass. The demon screamed and was suddenly visible again. Buffy saw that the knife had hit it right in the neck. Once more it roared in pain and fell to the floor, while Buffy jumped off its back.

As it hit the floor, it stopped moving. For a long time, Buffy just stared at it, while the shower was still turned on. She was very wet and dripped on her floor, while staring at the green demon. _'Okay, I guess you _don't_ disappear, when you're dead.'_

000

The castle, that wasn't a castle, was very big, no matter _what_ it was. There were enough rooms to have an army living there. Maybe even two armies. Of course, with only twenty young girls, Buffy and Xander living there a lot of the rooms were empty and they were trying to turn some of those rooms into the commando central and offices for Buffy and Xander.

The girls were also making a place, where they could train, a weapon closet, a library and a lot of guest rooms, so when Buffy were looking for Rose and the other girls, it took quite a long time, before she found anybody. And when she finally found someone, it wasn't one of the girls.

"Xander!" she cried, hugging her friend. She had completely forgotten that she was very wet. "What are you doing here? I thought that you were killing demons?"

"Hi, Buffy," Xander laughed, looking a bit mystified at her and her upper-body. "I thought that I should return here, seeing how you handled everything, so how are you handling?"

"Well, great, I think," she smiled. _'Why is he looking at me like that?'_

"Mhmm," he said with a weird sparkle in his eyes. "And would you care to tell me, why you're running around the castle, dripping water and in your bra? And then tell me, if the other girls also are only wearing their bras?"

"What?" She looked chocked down at her body, seeing to her horror that Xander was right. After she was sure that the green demon was dead, she had just run out of her room, trying to find the other girls. Apparently, she had completely forgotten about the detail that she was only wearing her bra and was very wet after the shower.

"Because if the other girls are wearing their bras and having pillow fights, I want to join. Very quickly," Xander grinned.

"Shut up, Xander." Buffy hit him lightly. "I had just killed a demon."

"Aha. Define 'killed a demon'," he still grinned.

"Shut up!" Buffy repeated and filled him in on the situation. When she was done telling him all about it, he wasn't grinning anymore. He was looking a bit more horrified and eyed Buffy with concern.

"I think we've got another apocalypse coming for us," he said and began walking with Buffy, trying to find the girls. But the girls found them first.

"Ma'am," a very tall girl said. She came running towards Xander and Buffy with ten other girls behind her. "We've found wet footsteps, leading from your room to here. We thought that it was a water monster, or something. What should we do?"

"A water monster? Footsteps?" Buffy repeated, trying to understand what the girls were on about.

"Well, girls," Xander said, with humor coloring his eyes. "This is a red code. The monster is very special, because there only exists the one example. Sadly, it can't be killed."

"What is it?" one of the girls asked, looking very frightened.

"It is The Buffy Monster," Xander laughed, while trying to look serious.

"I feel, like I say this a lot lately, but shut up, Xander!" Buffy said, while explaining to the girls about the monster, when Rose came running, interrupting her story.

"Mrs.," she cried and waved with a piece of paper. "Mrs.! Miss Willow called. I was on my way to your room, when I found these very weird footsteps and I followed them to here."

"Don't worry, Miss Rose," Xander laughed. "It's only The Buffy Monster."

Rose stared at him, trying to understand, if he was making fun of her. _'Like I said, no humor at all,' _ Buffy thought and explained everything to her, while Xander was taking control over the other girls, sending them to do chores or going to bed.

"But what about Willow?" Buffy asked, when she had explained everything to Rose. "You said she called?"

"Yes, Mrs. She did. And she asked for you to come to L.A. as soon as possible. Something about some signs, she and Tara had found. They wanted you to contact Mr. Xander and take him with you."

Buffy sighed. _'Here we go again. At least, I can get Willow to explain why she won't talk to me.' _"Alright, we'll make the arrangements tomorrow. Did she say anything else?"

"No, Mrs.," Rose said and began walking towards her bedroom. "She didn't say anything else."

Once again, she sighed and turned towards Xander. She would have asked him to come with her to the kitchen, getting something to eat. She had just killed a demon; she was hungry. But Xander was staring at Rose.

"What's with the paper, Miss Rose?" he asked. When she had insisted calling him 'Mr. Xander', he had insisted on him calling her 'Miss Rose' for some reason. Most of the time, Buffy just found it annoying.

"Oh, right, I completely forgot!" Rose said. "You have to call this number right now, Mrs."

"Sure, Rose. I'll do that," Buffy smiled and took the paper. "I'll use the phone in the kitchen. Coming, Xander?"

The kitchen was quite big and had a lot of freezers and refrigerators. Xander was making himself and Buffy some sandwiches, while Buffy was on the phone, waiting for it to be picked up. She had begun taping her fingers impatiently at the counter, when someone finally answered. In Italian.

"Hello?" she said, hoping that they talked English. "It's Buffy Summers. I was told to call this number?"

"Ah, Miss Summers," the voice answered in perfect English, fortunately. "You're Dawn Summers' sister?"

"Yes?" Buffy said, suddenly worried. Had something happened to Dawn? Andrew had said that everything was fine… "Has something happened to Dawn?"

"No, no, she's fine," the voice hesitated. "Well, it's most unfortunate and I don't really know how to tell you this."

"Tell me what?" Buffy almost yelled. _'First a weird demon, who wants to kill me – must talk with Giles and Willow about that – and now something is wrong with Dawn. Not my lucky day.'_

"Well, this is a very peculiar situation, but…um, Dawn has been kicked out of the school."

"What?" Buffy said, mystified. "But she was doing so well. I thought…her grades…"

"Oh, she was one of our most brilliant students, so this is even more unfortunate, but giving the circumstances we've had to kick her out."

"But why?" Buffy asked even more mystified. "What has she done? Where is she now?"

"A guy called Andrew said that he was sending her with a plane to you. He thought that you would like to talk with her."

"But what has she done?"

"Well," the voice stopped. She could hear it take a deep breath, before it answered her, "Dawn killed the principle."


	3. Chapter 2: But He Was Evil

**Disclaimer: **Nope, I still don't own Buffy.

000

_Previously on 'The Beginning of the End':_

_For the first time ever, the Scooby Gang had broken up._

_._

"_How is Willow?" Buffy asked._

"_Well, she didn't call in today."_

"_That's what? The sixth day in a row?"_

_._

"_And we're coming, before you can do it again, because you will do it again and you will destroy the world with you, if you have to. You're the only one, who ever had the strength to do such a thing."_

_._

"_She asked for you to come to L.A. as soon as possible."_

_._

"_Dawn killed the principle."_

000

For a long time, Buffy just stared at the telephone in shock. _'Did I hear it right, or did the demon do something with my hearing?'_ First when she could vaguely hear the Italian voice, she raised the telephone to her ear again.

"Miss Summers?" the voice repeated. "Are you still with me?"

"Dawn killed the principle?" Buffy asked, ignoring the question and Xander, who smashed the plate, where he was stabling their sandwiches. "As in the principle is dead or the principle died of laughter? Or something like that?"

"I can understand how this may come as a bit of a shock to you…"

"You don't say," Buffy muttered.

"But," the voice continued. "We can't take responsibility for her anymore, as I'm sure you can understand, miss. She would be setting a bad example for the other students, if she stayed, so your friend, Andrew, would take of her, until she arrives at your place. I'm sure you can understand the situation."

"Yeah, sure," Buffy said, quite dazed. _'What in God's name possessed Dawn to _kill_ the principle? Maybe I should get someone to check out our books on possessing.'_ "Of course. I'm grateful for all you've done for Dawn, but I'll take over from here, thanks."

Buffy hung up and faced Xander, who hadn't even calmed himself enough to take care of the smashed plate.

"Dawn _killed_ the principle?" he simply asked with a blank face. "Why do you think she did that?"

"Well, I hope she's got a good excuse, because that was one of the best schools in Europe!" Buffy felt the rage boiling in her body. She hadn't noticed it before, because she had been too shocked about the news. "She'll never get into another school now!" Buffy kicked the kitchen table, which shook violently.

"And more importantly, she must feel completely weirded out," Xander said, sending Buffy a disapproving look. "You know, like you did, when you felt guilty about _Faith_ killing a human."

"Oh God," Buffy gasped and sat down on a chair. "I didn't think of that." She hid her face in her hands and didn't say anything for a while.

Xander had finally gathered himself enough to clean the floor and gather the broken pieces of the plate. With a sad look he threw out the sandwiches that had fallen onto the floor with the plate. He turned around to make some new ones with a grim expression.

'_How could she do it?'_ Buffy thought._ 'Andrew had said something about she was complaining, but he never mentioned that it was _that_ extreme… Why didn't she tell me?_

'_And what about what Xander said? About Faith and killing. What if Dawn has to go through the same thing? What if she chooses the wrong path like Faith? Maybe it would be good for Dawn to spend some more time with Faith. Although, Faith isn't the person you want to take care of your sister…_

'_Of course, I could ask Giles, but let's face it. We're not that close anymore. After he tried to kill Spike, we don't really talk anymore._

'_I could try talking with her and helping her, like I tried helping Faith, and we all know how well that one turned out. Angel really was the only one, who was helping her. Of course, he would be an obvious choice, but Dawn doesn't trust him… Like Xander and Giles she never forgave him for turning into Angelus._

'_Willow, Xander and I could try talking with her, when we get to L.A. I'm sure that Will will be able to help her. Dawn has always loved Willow. But I have to say _something_ to her, when she gets here._

'_I wish I knew what to do._

'_I wish _someone_ knew what to do._

'_I wish my mum was here…'_

"Buffy?" Xander said, interrupting her thoughts. She sighed and gazed at him. "I've made you a sandwich."

She had completely forgotten all about her hunger, when she'd heard the news on Dawn. Actually, she wasn't even hungry anymore, but she took the sandwich, anyway. Not having tasted anything she swallowed the last bit and looked at Xander who was staring out the window.

The 'castle' had a spectacular view, or so Buffy thought. She had of course always lived her whole life in cities, which meant that she had always been surrounded of lights. Now the only light was the sun, so in the nights it was dark. Not just a bit, but completely. If she strained her eyes she could see some lights in the distance from the village.

But apart from the village, they were completely alone. On the east side was a big lake, where the girls sometimes swam around in, but only in the summer, when it was very hot. It was freezing in Scotland. Buffy could now understand, what Giles had meant with it was always being sunny in Sunnydale.

To the north and west there was a very large forest, which probably only ended, when the mountains began far away. On a clear day, Buffy could sometimes see them.

On the south side there was the moor and the village. It was here the girls were training, because it was the most spacious and because it was the warmest place. Even though it was only September, Buffy was already thinking about getting a sweater.

'_That's what happens, when you live your whole life in a warm place. You can't take the cold.'_

Buffy followed Xander's eyes and saw that he was staring at the light far away; the village. _'Well, Dawn isn't going to be around for another couple of hours…'_

"Wanna come with me to the village and kill something?" Buffy looked at Xander who almost half-grinned. But only almost. "If we're lucky we can kill something that's already dead."

"Count me in," Xander said and took the stake Buffy was offering him.

000

Unfortunately, they didn't find anything to kill. What was dead apparently stayed that way in Scotland. They had been on every cemetery in the city, which, granted, wasn't as many as in Sunnydale, but still there were quite a few. But sadly, no luck. Nobody had died of mystical reasons. No blood had been drained. There weren't any missing goats.

"After having lived in Sunnydale, I've got to say Scotland is boring with capital B," Buffy said, as she and Xander was heading back to the 'castle'.

"Where are all the vampires? The demons?" Xander huffed. "They're not very polite; not showing up when we need something to hit and kill."

"Exactly! Nobody has any manners now."

"Yeah, when I was young – which was about a week ago – we searched, demons came, you killed and we partied." Xander winked at her.

For a while they continued in silence. The sun was starting to rise, when Buffy remembered Willow's message. Apparently, Xander was thinking about her, too, "What do you think, Willow's on about? With us suddenly coming to L.A.?"

"No clue," Buffy sighed. _'Maybe I would have a clue, if she would just pick up her phone!'_

"Well, I talked to her some hours ago and she didn't mention anything about coming to L.A. and signs and Wicca-things. OK, she did mention the Wicca-things, but nothing related to L.A… I think."

"You've talked to Willow?" Buffy asked surprised. "Like you said something and she answered?"

"Uh-huh," Xander nodded. "That's how we usually talk, though sometimes she says something and I answer."

"Ha, ha," Buffy said. _'Why is Willow talking to Xander and not me?'_ "Has she said anything about me?"

"Oh yeah," Xander said sarcastic, as they entered the 'castle' just as the sun rose. "You're all we ever talk about. Your hair, your nails. How you killed _that_ demon and how you staked _that_ vampire. Why it is you don't watch 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' with us. How it is…"

"Shut up, Xander," Buffy said, when she saw Rose was approaching them.

'_Okay, clearly, Xander has no idea that Willow and I aren't talking…'_

"Mrs.?" Rose said frowning. "Are you expecting a plane coming here? Because not long ago, we got a message from a plane asking permission to land. We were worried it was some kind of demons, maybe…"

"It's alright, Rose," Buffy said. "It's probably just Dawn. The guy I talked to said that Andrew would get her on a plane, so I could deal with her."

"No, Mrs." Rose said, looking apprehensive. "Dawn came over an hour ago. She's in the spare room beside yours, because I thought that…"

"Dawn's here?" Buffy interrupted. But she wasn't waiting for an answer, when she stormed off to get to Dawn's room.

"What about the plane?" she could hear Rose yelling after her, but she couldn't bother answering, right now. Xander would have to deal with it.

'_Okay, maybe I'm putting a lot on Xander here and now, but Dawn is way more important than some plane.'_

Finally she reached the door beside her bedroom. Usually, this room was empty, so it was perfect for Dawn. Buffy would have to thank Rose for her clever thinking. Later.

"Dawn?" Buffy said opening the door. The room was quite empty. There were only a bed and a closet. If this would be Dawn's room, they would have to buy some more furniture. But again it would have to wait for later.

Dawn was lying on the bed, looking in a book. Her suitcases were spread out on the floor with their contents. When Buffy said her name, she looked up and grimaced. Probably expecting the shouting-match that would soon begin.

Other than a bit tired, Dawn looked all right. But Buffy couldn't stop worrying. This seemed a lot like with Faith. Faith had killed that man a long time ago and she had said, 'I don't care'. Dawn looked exactly like that. She didn't care.

Again Buffy could feel the rage boiling inside her.

"Care to explain to me what the hell you think you're doing?" Buffy asked leaning against the doorframe. _'Okay, maybe this isn't the best approach…'_ "What were you thinking, Dawnie?" she tried a bit softer.

"That I needed to kill him, obviously, because he was evil," Dawn said, rolling her eyes over her sister's stupidity. Before Buffy could comment, Xander came running in. Immediately, Dawn lightened up, when she saw him.

'_How come she didn't do that, when I came in?'_

"Dawnie!" he said, looking way serious than he normally did. Although, it was hard to take him serious with the eye patch. Dawn seemed to think that too, as she giggled a bit, when she saw him.

"Hi, Xander," she grinned.

He didn't grin back.

He didn't even smile.

"Dawn, how could you do it?" he said, looking heartbroken. "How could you kill another man?"

"He was evi…" Dawn tried to say, but they wouldn't listen to her.

"We know that you didn't like him," Buffy intervened, trying to soften up their reprimand. "Andrew said that you're complaining about him."

"But we were also complaining about _our_ principles in high school and we didn't kill them," Xander continued, apparently not going for the soft approach.

"I just don't understand, Dawnie," Buffy said, which resulted in Dawn rolling her eyes again. "Was it an accident?"

At that question, Xander stopped rambling and looked at Dawn, who just shook her head. For a moment, Buffy and Xander could only just continue at staring at her and each other.

'_If it wasn't an accident, then it must mean that it was…'_

"Dawn, I thought we'd taught you better than that," Xander started.

"It's my entire fault. I've been off killing things, since I was fifteen. 'Cause you got a screwed view on killing. It really is my entire fault."

"Yeah, but even then she shouldn't just kill humans…"

"Is anybody interested in my side of the story?" Dawn asked, interrupting the two friends' bickering.

"There's more than one side?" Buffy asked, sitting down on her bed, while Xander took up her old position and leaned against the doorframe.

Dawn nodded and began her story:

000

"_Well, it all started about a week ago. I was in the library, studying for this very big test, when I heard hushed voices. Alright, that's not very unusual in a library, but I got this weird feeling, so I decided to follow the voices._

_I saw that it was the principle and one of the students, who were walking towards this bookcase in the corner. Then the principle touched one of the books in that bookcase and a secret passage showed itself. It was, like, completely like in a movie or something. _

'_Cause I followed them and I came to this very big room with a lot of symbols on it and such and they were still talking. I was trying to sneak up on them, when suddenly the principle ripped off his face and there was this big green monster head instead. It was actually very yucky and I guess I gasped in surprise, because suddenly they both turned around to my direction and this other student began to walk towards me, so I got up and ran._

_He ran after me and when I finally came back to the library, it was completely deserted, so no help there. But when I looked at that student, I saw that he was a vampire, so it was actually lucky that there weren't any students to see me dust him, which I did with me pencil. Again, yuck!_

_Then I guess the principle must have seen that it was me, who was running around, spying on him, so he began to spy on me. He kept following me around and tried to be alone with me._

_Very creepy._

_I just tried to avoid him, while researching on how to kill this green monster thing. Apparently, you have to stick something sharp into its neck. So I waited till late last night, when I killed him, while he was talking to the vice-principle._

_Maybe it wasn't the wisest time to kill him, when he was talking to someone else, but, hey, I did it. So that's why nobody has to be mad at me, because he was evil and maybe I even saved the world._

000

Dawn finished her story with a broad grin and looked proudly at Buffy and Xander, who hadn't said a thing, while she had told the story.

Finally, Buffy opened her mouth, "But how do you know that he was evil, Dawn?"

She looked totally shocked about that question. She had, obviously, expected praise from her big sister.

"He was a green monster in a very big room with a lot of symbols. 'Cause he's evil," Dawn said, again trying to smile.

"Yeah, but did you hear about his plans?" Xander said thinking like Buffy did that Dawn had acted too quickly. "Because even if he was evil, how do you know, if you did stop them?"

"Well," Dawn began, when Buffy interrupted her, "And do you remember your best friend, Clem? He was also a big monster. Granted he wasn't green and in a big room with a lot of symbols, but still."

"The student tried to kill me?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, but did the principle order him to do it?" Xander asked, winking. He was very relieved that she hadn't killed a human, but a demon. She hadn't acted wisely, but still it wasn't like Faith and that was very relieving.

"Well, no, but the principle was evil," Dawn insisted. "I just know it and I hadn't any time to investigate, because Andrew got me on the plane to here, way too quickly.

'_The plane!'_ Buffy realized.

"Xander, what did you do with the plane?" she asked him.

"I gave it permission to land. I figured it was the best way to find out, what they wanted, if they actually explained what they want to do," he said, looking pointedly at Dawn, who just avoided their looks and pouted.

"Then I guess we better go and talk with them," Buffy said and asked Dawn to come with them, which she did, but she wasn't looking happy. Not at all.

They made their way out to the ground and saw the plane, which was more like a helicopter, anyway. Rose and some of the other girls stood around it, talking with whomever it was that had arrived. When Rose saw Xander and Buffy she ran towards them with all the papers flying. She looked happy enough, so it couldn't be something bad that had arrived with the plane.

'_Thank God!'_ Buffy thought. _'I'm not really in the mood to fight more monsters.'_

"Mrs." Rose said, frowning slightly, as if she was worried how to break some bad news to me. "It's Kennedy, who has arrived." She grinned, when she saw the grimace, Buffy made.

"Kennedy? As in _that_ Kennedy?" Dawn asked.

"I think so," Rose said, frowning even more. "How come you're here, Dawn?"

"She killed the principle," Xander answered with a small smile at Rose, before he followed Buffy, who was walking towards the plane, where Kennedy would be.

"Dawn killed the principle?" Rose asked shocked.

"He was evil," Dawn mumbled crossly, as she also made her way towards the plane, where Buffy had almost reached Kennedy.

"Kennedy, hi!" Buffy said as enthusiastically, as she could. Which was not very.

"Hi, Buffy," Kennedy answered. "I thought you were out slaying?"

"Just came back," she answered. "But why are you here? I thought you were in Brazil."

"I was, but Willow asked me to come to L.A. She said that she wanted me to drop in here and take you and Xander with me."

Buffy looked shortly at Xander who looked just as shocked as she felt. "But we said that we would make the arrangements tomorrow. We would come tomorrow."

"Yeah, but she said it's urgent you come now," Kennedy shrugged.

Again Buffy looked at Xander. "Then let's go."

000

A/N: Alright, here's the next chapter.

I want to make a promise I know I'll regret and I already know now that I can't keep it, but I will **try** to update on Tuesdays. About two times a month. But soon school will start and I won't have enough time to write. I'll try to write as many chapters as I can know, but still.

Hope you enjoy the story so far.


	4. Chapter 3: LA

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. Not even a little bit. Nothing! But I do own the flashback scene, as it's one of my other stories, "Changes". Most of the dialogue is from the episode "Becoming Part 1". And no, I don't own that episode either.

000

_Previously on 'The Beginning of the End':_

_For the first time ever, the Scooby Gang had broken up._

_._

'_Okay, clearly, Xander has no idea that Willow and I aren't talking…'_

_._

"_And we're coming, before you can do it again, because you will do it again and you will destroy the world with you, if you have to. You're the only one, who ever had the strength to do such a thing."_

_._

"_But we said that we would make the arrangements tomorrow. We would come tomorrow."_

"_Yeah, but she said it's urgent you come now."_

000

L.A. Los Angeles. City of Angels. Success has many fathers or how the phrase goes. _'It's always been Giles, who knows that stuff,'_ Buffy thought, as she was watching the town – her old hometown – from Kennedy's plane. Or helicopter. Whatever it was, it was hovering over the city, as they were on their way to Willow's and Tara's place.

"Do you know where it is?" Buffy yelled, trying to get Kennedy's attention. _'Maybe not the smartest move, when we are very far from the ground…'_

"Where what is?" she yelled back.

"Willo…" Buffy was trying to say, when the helicopter or whatever jumped very violently. She was about to ask, if they had hit anyone, when she remembered that they were up in the air. _''Cause we haven't _hit_ anyone!'_

When the helicopter didn't jump around anymore, Buffy had silently agreed with herself that she wouldn't ask Kennedy anymore questions. _'Just sit back and enjoy the ride.'_

Xander was indeed enjoying the trip, as he was looking out the window on all the 'pretty lights', as he kept talking about.

"Hey, Buff," he suddenly called. "Isn't that your old school?"

"Hemery?" she asked and also looked down. She could vaguely see her old school, as the sun was shining. But it wasn't vaguely she could remember, how everything had started; the day that she had been called:

000

_Another sunny day in Los Angeles. Fantastic. The students of Hemery High School were out in the sun, soaking up the vitamin D. Cheerleading practice had just ended and I was walking down the steps with three of my girlfriends. We laughed and talked animatedly about the up-coming dance._

"_So I'm like, 'Dad, do you want me to go to the dance in an outfit I've already worn?'" I said, gesturing wildly to my friends. "'Why do you hate me?'"_

_The girls laughed and one of them asked, excitedly, "Is Tyler taking you?"_

_I looked at her, as if she was stupid. "Where were you when I got over Tyler? He's of the past." I flipped my long, blonde hair. "Tyler would have to crawl on his hands and knees to get me to go to the dance with him. Which, actually," I laughed, "he's supposed to do after practice, so I'm gonna wait."_

_My friends said goodbye and promised to call me later. I, on the other hand, sat down on the stairs and waited for Tyler to show up. _'Late again. Why is it that Tyler is always late, when we have to meet?' _I looked around, expecting to see him any minute now, but sadly all I could see was an old man in a black suit. I just ignored him and looked in the other direction to see, if Tyler was on his way._

"_Buffy Summers?" someone suddenly asked. I looked at the man in the black suit._

"_Yeah?" I asked, and then I smiled. "Hi!" _'Wait! Do I know him? What does he want with me?' _"What?" I frowned, looking confused._

"_I need to speak to you," he said gravely, while looking around at the other students, to be sure that no one listened to this conversation._

_Suddenly I became very worried, "You're not from Bullock's, are you? 'Cause I…I meant to pay for that lipstick…"_

"_There isn't much time," he said, ignoring me. "You must come with me." _'Come with you? No way, I've seen horror movies.'_ "Your destiny awaits."_

'Okay, what is this guy on?'_ I thought, even more confused. I shook my head, "I don't have a destiny." Then I added, more determinedly, hoping the guy would disappear. "I'm destiny-free, really!"_

_Again, he just ignored me and continued his speech, very seriously, "Yes, you have. You are the Chosen One. You alone can stop them."_

"_Who?" I asked, not really believing this guy. _'Maybe he wants me to become a cop, or something. Some sort of weird organization, looking for volunteers, maybe.'

"_The vampires," he said, just looking at me._

'Oh, the vampires. I have to stop the vampires. Actually, I've always liked garlic… Wait!'

"_What?"_

_000_

_Eventually, he convinced me that he wasn't a nutter, who wanted to kill me, and he took me for a walk. He told me about the Slayers:_

"_Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in the entire world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil and the forces of darkness."_

"_So," I said, still not believing him, "you're saying that vampires are real?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And that I have some ancient's superpowers to kill them?"_

"_That is one way to put it."_

_I glared at him, I wasn't really sure, if I liked this guy. "Are you sure, you've got the right girl? 'Cause last time I checked, I hadn't really killed any vampires, because, you know, they aren't real."_

_I looked around, realizing that it was late. It was already getting dark. _'Oh, I'm going to be in so much trouble!' _I was on my way home, when the man suddenly grabbed me._

"_Let go of me!" I raised my voice._

"_Just come with me to the cemetery. I'll have to show you your power."_

'The cemetery? This is not going to end well!'

_But I still followed after him._

_000_

"_Oof!" I huffed, as I landed on my back._

_A vampire – a real vampire – landed on me, growling. I looked around, trying to figure out what to do, while fighting him off. _'Where is that damn stake?' _Finally, I saw it, but even when I tried my hardest, I couldn't reach it._

'Alright, back to old Self Defense 101.' _I pushed the vampire off of me. _

"_Oh God…" I muttered, while crawling towards the stake. I quickly got to my feet, when I had finally gotten the stake back. _'Now what?' _I thought looking down at the stake, but I hesitated too long and the vampire attacked me._

_As if I knew just what to do, I grabbed him, sidestepped him and flipped him over to the ground. _'I guess I'll just go with the flow,' _I thought, completely dazed. Quickly I ran towards him and plunged the stake into him._

"_Oh! Not the heart!" I cried, worried. Once again I raised my arm, and this time I didn't miss the heart, and the vampire turned to dust in front of my eyes._

_I screamed and fell back. I couldn't do anything else than just stare at the ashes, completely shocked. The man walked towards me, completely relaxed._

"_You see? You see your power?" he just asked, looking at me. I was still too shocked to answer, but I was probably looking, as if I really didn't want to see my power._

"_N…no," I finally stammered. "No, th…that wasn't a vampire, that was just a guy in thundering need of a facial. Or maybe he had rabies. It could have been rabies. A…and him turning to dust? Just a trick of light."_

_He just stared at me, and I knew I couldn't fool myself._

"_Or maybe it was a vampire," I whispered._

_000_

"_Why didn't you call?" my mom asked, worried and very annoyed with me._

'What should I say? Sorry, mom, but I was out with this very weird guy, killing a vampire?' _I turned around, facing Joyce, "I'm sorry. I…I didn't know it was so late. Tyler and I were talking."_

_Joyce sighed, even more annoyed, "That boy is irresponsible."_

"_No, mom. It's not his fault." I took off my jacket, trying not to feel too bad about lying for her._

"_You know we worry, that's all," Joyce said. I looked at her and for a moment we just stared at each other. Then Joyce shrugged. "Dinner's in ten minutes," she said and left._

"_Yeah," I whispered, although I was sure that my mom didn't hear me. I went to the bathroom to clean myself up after the cemetery. I turned the water on, but I could still hear my parents' argument:_

"_Did she say where she was?" Hank asked._

"_She was with Tyler," Joyce answered._

"_I don't want her seeing him anymore, period!"_

"_You're overreacting, dear."_

_I could feel the tears clouding my vision. This was the beginning to another one of their arguments. _'Here we go again…'

"_Don't do that! Don't talk to me like I'm a kid!" her father shouted._

"_I don't! Just forget it!" her mother screamed back at him._

"_Just because you can't discipline her, I have to be the ogre."_

'Just keep staring in the mirror,' _I told myself, trying to tune out my parents' voices, but it was too difficult. They screamed way too much. _'It's because of me, they're arguing. Again.'

"_I am not having this conversation again! Alright?"_

_The tears began to run down my cheeks. I sniffed and blinked, trying very hard not to cry. _'Get a grip, Summers,' _I told myself. _'You're tough. You've just killed a vampire, for crying out loud!' _I sniffed again and looked in the mirror. I would have to clean myself up a bit better, getting rid of the traces after the tears. _'You've got superpowers. You're the Slayer.'

_I smiled a bit, before turning off the water._

'I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I kinda like the sound of it.'

000

"Yeah, I guess it is," Buffy answered Xander and leaned back in her seat. She wasn't sure, if she liked the sound of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' anymore.

"We've come a long way since then, huh?" Xander smiled.

'_Have we? Have we come a long way? Aren't we still doing what we did seven years ago? Trying to make the world a better place, without getting killed too much?'_

"Yeah, I guess we have," she answered, not bothering to tell Xander her glooming views on the world and their job. Instead, she focused on the fact that they were trying to land.

'_I will never ever again fly with Kennedy. Not even if she begged and would stop calling and bothering me every five minutes… Or maybe I would, but only for a very short ride!'_

They were trying to land on top of a roof. A very small roof. But Kennedy didn't even look worried, so Buffy just closed her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that she was probably about to die.

On the roof stood two women, who were the welcome committee. They were both quite tall and were similarly dressed in long dresses. It was almost only their hair that was different. One was a redhead and the other had blonde hair.

"Will!" Xander cried, when they had finally landed. "And Tara!" he yelled, when he was done hugging Willow. Tara grinned nervously and hugged him back.

"Hi, Buffy," she smiled, when Xander had let go of her. He was now talking with Willow about something. Buffy wasn't quite sure on what. _'Probably just continuing their earlier conversations…'_

"Hi, Tara," she smiled back and hugged her. "It's nice to see you again. But why did you have to drag us out in the middle of the night all the way to here, when we would have come tomorrow. Or today or whatever." _'I hate time zones.'_ Buffy turned around and faced Willow, waiting for her to explain everything, but she was just ignoring her, talking with Xander and Kennedy.

Tara sent her an apologizing look, when Buffy looked at her. _'So Tara knows about it?'_ Buffy thought.

"Yeah, Will," Xander said, having missed the fact that Buffy and Willow hadn't said a thing to each other. "Buffy has a point."

"What's the what?" Buffy said, trying to look, as if she didn't care that Willow wouldn't talk with her.

"Tara can't you explain? I'm pretty beat," Willow said and left them without a single glance at Buffy. "See you later, Xander," she called, before she shut the door.

Xander had finally realized that something was off between Buffy and Willow, but he didn't say anything. For a moment, they just stood in an uncomfortable and awkward silence, when Tara – finally – broke it, "Shouldn't we al-also go inside?" she stammered a bit. She always did that, when she got really nervous and uncomfortable.

'_Well, right now, I'm right there with her.'_

"So, Tara," Xander tried to carry on without making more awkward silence. "What is so important that Buffy and I can't get any sleep?"

Tara began to explain, but Buffy wasn't listening to a word she said. _'How come Willow is even ignoring me, when I'm standing right in front of her? I mean the telephone calls can be excused, but not even looking at someone, when you've dragged them half across the earth? I at least had the manners to greet _Kennedy_!_

'_Why is it that Will's doing this? I mean I don't recall saying anything to her or doing anything…_

'_Actually, I think we haven't talked with each other, since we destroyed Sunnydale. But she seemed pretty happy then._

'_Okay, maybe that was only relief, because she hadn't died. Or gone evil. But still._

'_Now it has changed._

'_And no, I'm not being melodramatic._

'_Everything really has changed.'_

"Buffy, are you listening?" Xander asked, ripping her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Buffy said, looking around at the faces that were staring at her. _'How rude.'_

"Tara was explaining what was going on," Xander said, looking sympathetically at her. Sometimes Buffy was sure he had an omniscient power, because he always seemed to know what she was thinking about.

"Or right, sorry Tara," Buffy smiled.

"That's alright," Tara smiled, also looking sympathetically at her. _'Okay, maybe Xander doesn't have an omniscient power, but it's just really obvious what I'm thinking… Or both.'_

"Okay," Tara starting over her speech. "Willow and I have been working on a spell on how to locate the remaining Hellmouths. We've been observing those in Cleveland and Paris – because we know that there actually exists Hellmouths in those places – trying to figure out how to do it, when we noticed something very strange.

"There's always been a lot of demonic activity in those places, because the Hellmouth attracts demons, as you know. But this is very unusual. The demons are working together. Normally, they attack each other or don't bother. Sometimes, the less intelligent demons end up working for the others, but this is completely new.

"Demons and vampires and everything have come together and are making ready for battle. Not against each other. No, they're all fighting together. Willow says that she's only seen this once before."

"Adam," both she, Xander and Buffy said together.

"But is this then some new Adam?" Xander asked, looking slightly worried.

"No idea, but we don't think so. We think that they're trying to kill Buffy. Willow even said that she was sure that they were trying to protect something, but she has no idea what it should be."

For a moment they just sat in silence, trying to let the news sink in. _'Okay, this is bad. Very bad. Like bad, bad.'_

"Hopefully, Giles's coming tomorrow with a lot of books, so he can explain everything to us," Tara said.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the sack or the couch, maybe even the floor," Xander grinned, as he and Kennedy made their way to their rooms. Tara had probably shown them, while Buffy had been too wrapped up in her thoughts to pay attention.

"Willow's room is behind the green door," Tara said and sat down with a very heavy-looking book. Buffy just smiled at her, before she disappeared, too.

000

"Tara?" Willow said when her door opened. "Are you done explain-oh," she said, when she saw that it was Buffy, who entered her room, not Tara.

"Sorry to bother you, Will," Buffy said in a lofty voice.

"No, I was expecting you," Willow said. She sat down on her bed, not looking Buffy in the eyes. She just kept her gaze at the floor.

"Well, obviously, since you were the one, who wanted me to come," Buffy still spoke in the lofty voice. To make matters worse, it was even over-friendly.

"I didn't want you…" Willow broke herself off, before she could finish the sentence.

"You didn't want me to come," Buffy finished softly, sitting down at the floor and finally catching Willow's gaze. She stared into the green eyes that filled with tears. "I can tell," she continued, holding her gaze. "You never answer my calls and you didn't even look at me, when I arrived. I know that I sound very much like a scorned girl." Willow sniffed slightly and gave a week smile.

"Buffy, you don't understand," she said in a remarkably calm voice.

Buffy lifted herself up onto the bed, "Then tell me about it, Will."

000

A/N: So far so good. I'm keeping with the updates. Huzzah!

Hope it'll last.

But hope you enjoy the story!


	5. Chapter 4: Willow's Story

**Disclaimer:** Nooo! I still don't own anything.

Even the idea of bringing back Tara was Whedon's. I'm so sorry that they never got to film that episode!

000

A/N: Okay, the note's in the beginning of the story for this chapter. I just wanted to say that the words in _italic_ are flashbacks as a part of Willow's story and every time it's normal it's in the present.

This chapter was so hard for me to write, because I had no idea of what to write. I was just sitting there, staring at the blank pages, wishing there was 3.000 words written. Maybe because I thought Willow was a very hard person to write about, so she may be a bit OOC. But, well, hope you enjoy the chapter.

000

_Previously on 'The Beginning of the End':_

"_How is Willow?" Buffy asked._

"_Well, she didn't call in today."_

"_That's what? The sixth day in a row?"_

_._

'_Okay, clearly, Xander has no idea that Willow and I aren't talking…'_

_._

'_How come Willow is even ignoring me, when I'm standing right in front of her? I mean the telephone calls can be excused, but not even looking at someone, when you've dragged them half across the earth?'_

_._

"_Buffy, you don't understand," she said in a remarkably calm voice._

_Buffy lifted herself up onto the bed, "Then tell me about it, Will."_

000

"Okay, Buffy," Willow sniffed one more time. "You know that Oz left me and I was a bit of a mess."

"Oh yeah, making me and Spike get married, was you being a big mess," Buffy half-grinned and Willow smiled, as she remembered. It had been very funny to see Buffy and Spike in love.

"Yeah, alright, but after that I tried to deal with it but it was hard. You know how hard it was for you, when Angel left, right?"

Buffy nodded.

"When Oz left me, I think something inside me left, too. Oz was a big part of me growing confident and with him, some of that confidence also left. Especially, when my magic didn't work that well.

"But then I met Tara. It was amazing. She, too, was a witch. And a powerful one. She could teach me so many things, which she also did. And I fell in love with her."

Buffy grinned, "Yeah, who would have thought that little, shy Willow would turn out to be gay?"

Willow smiled, "I don't think many did. You certainly didn't!

"But that's not really the point. The point was that after Oz left, I was sure that I would never fall in love again, but I did. And we stayed and helped you, slaying things and we were all happy. I never really thought about that Oz left me, because of the Hellmouth.

"And then I lost Tara because of the Hellmouth.

"Or that's what I kept telling myself, because I really lost Tara because of you."

She stopped talking and looked at Buffy. No emotions were written on her face. She wasn't embarrassed or shameful. Willow just sat there and stared at Buffy, who got more and more confused.

"What m-me?" she finally stammered under Willow's hard stare.

"Yes, you, Buffy," Willow said in a tired voice. "Warren would have shot you, but one of the bullets missed and he… he shot Tara.

"So really, I lost Tara because of you.

"When you died I could've taken her away from Sunnydale. I could have taken Dawn with us and we could've moved. Far away. Far away from anything. Maybe to Mallorca or something. Just far away from the danger and from the Hellmouth.

"But we didn't. I brought you back. I know you didn't want me to do it, but I did. And when she died, I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't brought you back, Warren and the others wouldn't have tried to kill you… and she wouldn't have died.

"So a big part of me blamed you. Maybe it's kind of irrational of me, but, hey, love is not really rational now, is it?"

Buffy could only nod. She was still way too shocked of Willow's answer to do anything else. For a long time the two girls just sat on Willow's bed in silence. Buffy too shocked and Willow hoping that they didn't have to talk to each other anymore.

Finally, Buffy talked, "So you blame me?"

"Well, I did," Willow said. "But not anymore." She smiled and Buffy looked at her in hope of getting her best friend back.

"How can I blame you, when you were the one, who brought her back to me? Can you remember it?"

000

"_When we had destroyed the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, I didn't really think about anything else. Just something along the lines of: 'My God, I survived! And I didn't turn evil! Yay me!' I only felt relieved, when we reached L.A. late in the evening and we booked into the hotel._

"_Of course the relief of having survived evil didn't last long, when you suddenly bursted into my room, dragging Xander after you. He was yelling quite a lot, right?_

"_Well, you had news. Big news. The biggest news! First, I thought that you wanted to go shoe-shopping, as we had discussed, before we destroyed the Hellmouth, but no, it was way bigger than that._

"_The Powers That Be had granted you one wish. You could wish for anything in the whole world, so of course we sat and discussed it the whole night. Even Giles came in and sat with us, consulting his books on wishes._

"_It was just like, when we were in high school, right?_

"_We all had a lot of ideas on what you should wish for. Xander was talking a lot about wishing all the demons would go poof right now, and I think Giles was also a bit keen on that idea, but he insisted that you wished for something to make you a even stronger fighter._

"_But you would wish to restore Angel's humanity. That really did put a damper on Giles' and Xander's talk about fighting, because of course you would wish for something for you._

"_You had just changed the world. You can't keep doing that, right?_

"_Well, you dropped that idea, because you thought that Angel wouldn't like it, if you just wished for that, without talking to him about it, first._

"_I really admired your strength in that moment. To give up on being with the one person that you love the most? I was awestruck._

"_Then Dawn came in. She wanted to know, why we had to keep her up with all our talking. But I could see it and you could see it. She had been crying. I would probably have been crying too, if that had been my first really big battle._

"_When we had tucked her back in bed, I proposed that you could wish for your mother to come back. She could take care of Dawn._

"_And I will probably always remember the look that you sent me. It was a mixture of hope and that special glint in your eye that you get, when you've got a good idea. Or what you think is a good idea. Not all of your 'good ideas' are good, you know._

"_Early next morning, you knocked on my door:_

""_Morning Will," you smiled. "Guess what? I've just gotten these new, to-die-for boots with a bit of a heel and…"_

""_You don't mean to tell me that you used your wish – that wish that could change the whole world – for some new shoes?" I asked, totally dumbstruck._

""_No silly," you said and stepped aside. And there she stood. Perfectly alive. My Tara."_

000

Again, Willow stopped talking, as Buffy fondly remembered the memory. For a moment, they just smiled at each other, forgetting about all the blame and hurt. For a moment, they were back at high school, giggling about Cordelia or talking with Xander. For a moment, they were back at being best friends again.

But it was only for a moment, when Buffy's smile began to fade, as she remembered all of Willow's accusations.

Willow's face, though, didn't turn emotionless, but guilty, as she hurriedly tried to explain, "How could I blame you after that? I mean, yes, I was pretty angry with you for getting her killed, but I couldn't stay that way, when you gave up on Angel – on your own mom – for me.

"It would've been way too selfish of me.

"Maybe you took away the love of my life, but it was also you, who gave her back to me. Although, I could have gotten on fine with my life without explaining to Kennedy."

Buffy grinned. She could vividly remember how angry Kennedy had been with her. "I've got to admit that I had completely forgotten all about her, when I wished for Tara to come back. A fact that Kennedy will not let me forget."

"She was so angry," Willow giggled.

"Yeah, I think that it is part of her revenge to call me five time a day – and I mean every. Single. Day – to complain about God knows what."

Again, they forgot about everything, except the quite funny memory of Kennedy's rage. Though, when they had had to face her rage, it hadn't been very funny.

Of course Kennedy had gotten over it. Willow had said that she had told her that she didn't turn gay, as much as just fall in love with one woman. And then Xander had told Kennedy all about Willow and Tara's relationship, and Kennedy had finally admitted that she was defeated, though she hadn't done it without yelling a lot at Buffy.

"At least, she still talks with you," Buffy finally said, breaking the silence. Willow was torn back to the present and eyed Buffy with a guilty face. "I just don't understand why you're not talking to me, if you don't blame me anymore."

000

"_Neither could Tara really. She knew that I had blamed you for her death and even though she thought I shouldn't she could understand it._

"_When she had lost her mother, she also wanted to blame someone, because it's always easier to blame someone – anybody – when you lose someone that you love. I just got a bit luckier, because I could actually blame Warren – and you, too. When her mom died, she couldn't blame anybody, because she hadn't been murdered or anything._

"_She had just died._

"_But then came the time to split up and Kennedy left to Brazil, Giles and Faith wanted to go to Cleveland. Then it was just us left. You said that you wanted to go Scotland to set up a base there. At first, Dawn wanted to go with you, but you begged her to go with Andrew to Italy and study there. You used all of your money to get her into one of the finest schools in Europe. Andrew was quite happy to go to Italy, I'm sure. Especially, because he got so excited that he almost fainted._

"_But back to you going to Scotland. Because in that moment, I realized something. I didn't have to go with you. Tara could stay away from all of it. _

"_Or not all of it, but a big part of it._

"_We could stay as far away as possible from you. Never seeing. Never having to patrol with you. Or saving the world every day. I could do what I hadn't done before. I could keep her safe. So I immediately said that we would be handling everything here in L.A. _

"_I can still remember the look Xander gave me, when I said that. He had obviously thought that we would be staying together. Us. The Scoobies. But I just ignored him and said that I would also be checking in on Paris, because I was sure that there was another Hellmouth there._

"_Xander was torn between the two of us. While he was debating on who to stay with, he kept eyeing me and Tara._

"_In the end, he chose you. Probably, because he knew that while I at least had Tara, you didn't have anybody. You had just lost Spike and he had just lost Anya. You both had lost the love in your lives, while I had gotten mine back._

"_It wasn't fair._

"_But on with my point, before we have to stay up the whole night. Everybody left us and Tara and I was finally alone. Completely alone. And it was fantastic. I was missing you, but I didn't dwell on those thoughts, because I had Tara._

"_Maybe we didn't patrol _every_ night, but we did our fair share of vampire slaying and we tried to kill all the evil. 'Course we didn't have to do that much, because Angel and his team are killing a lot of things, too. They've taken over Wolfram & Hart, you know, and are now professional demon-killers or whatever. My point is, they get paid! _

"_Why didn't we ever think of being professional demon-killers like them? Then we wouldn't have to worry about money and bills…_

"_But back to my story._

"_Tara and I were pretty happy. I only left to go to Paris to check up on there, but otherwise I never left her. And when I did, it was only for some days, because I couldn't bear to be away from her. _

"_We never spoke of you or Xander._

"_We were just us and happy._

"_But then, there came a snake in our paradise, or whatever, because then Xander started calling me. It wasn't unusual or anything. Tara wasn't suspicious or jealous or anything else. We had been best friends our entire life, so it was only natural that we're missing each other._

"_No, she first became suspicious, when she noticed that you and I never called each other. I didn't even spoke of you. The only persons I spoke to were Rose and Xander. And for the most, it was Tara who was talking with Rose._

"_Then she noticed that every time you called, I never answered my phone. In the beginning, I just said that I would call you later, but then she discovered that we hadn't really talked with each other, since the day the Scoobies broke up._

"_And, you know Tara, she was quite pissed. Maybe more at you than me, because she thought that we were fighting or something childish like that. All right, it is pretty childish of me, ignoring you, but let's not go down that road right now, 'kay?_

"_One day, Xander called and asked if he could stop by, because he was in New York, anyway, and he was missing me – and Tara, of course. But instead of feeling joy, because I was seeing him again, I panicked. Even though, I was mostly worried about contacting you, Xander was too close. He had been with us, through everything. I had even once called him a 'demon magnet'. Well, if that was true, I couldn't risk losing Tara for seeing him again, so I said no._

"_He never asked again._

"_And once more, Tara became very suspicious and angry with me. She began accusing me for not wanting to be with my friends and why she and I could never see any of you. We were always alone and while I was perfectly happy, she wasn't._

"_She missed you, as much as I did. She was just the only one, who was admitting it and wanted to do something about it._

"_I tried explaining everything and I think she understood. I think she understood that while I was still blaming you a little bit, that wasn't the problem anymore. I couldn't lose her again. If I did, I don't know what I would do… what I would become. _

"_So I kept her away from you, to save her._

"_And she understood, but she didn't approve._

"_That's why she called you, immediately, asking for you to come here. And I let her."_

000

Tears were running down Willow's cheeks, but her voice hadn't shivered once throughout the story. She was looking at Buffy, who had listened to it all with something gnawing inside her stomach. Buffy tried to say something, but the lump in her throat didn't let her. Instead, she moved to the bed and hugged Willow, who finally gave in and sobbed.

Buffy tried to tell her with that hug that she forgave her. That she could understand her.

In that moment, Xander came in. For a while, he just looked at his best friends hugging each other. It was, as if he understood everything, although he hadn't even known that they weren't speaking with each other anymore.

"Why is it that I'm never allowed to be around, when the girls have some girl-time?" he grinned, making Buffy and Willow grin with him. "I mean, first there was Buffy running around in her bra, and now you two are hugging each other, as if there is no tomorrow…."

They just looked at him.

"Oh, God!" he realized. "There _is_ no tomorrow, right? We're all gonna die…"

Once more he made Buffy and Willow grin. He soon joined in, when they had reassured him that they weren't going to die. Not right away, anyway.

"Well, if it's alright with you, I'm gonna hit the sack – and not in a violent way," Buffy yawned. "I'm completely beat!"

"But, Buff," Xander said, "it's almost half past six. You can't go to bed now. Everybody's down, eating breakfast."

Buffy groaned. That was another night without any sleep. _'What have I done to deserve this?'_

"Ooh," Willow smiled. "I hope Tara's made pancakes. I really do love her pancakes."

"So do I," Xander grinned, as the three friends made their way down to the kitchen. "I especially love pancakes, when I'm hungry."

"But then you always love pancakes," Willow laughed.

"And I see no problem with that."

When they reached the kitchen, Tara was already eating the pancakes. Kennedy wasn't there, yet. Maybe she was still sleeping. _'Lucky!'_ Buffy thought bitterly.

"Hey," she smiled, as she looked from Buffy to Willow with a tense glint in her eyes. Willow nodded reassuringly to her and Tara smiled even more.

"So, I was thinking," Xander began, as he was eating his way through the pancakes. "Maybe we should go play mini golf later today, huh? I mean, we haven't done that in forever."

"That would've been a good idea, except that all the others are coming today," Buffy said, as she, too, was eating.

"Actually," Willow said, looking up at the roof. "They're already here."


	6. Chapter 5: The Research Team

**Disclaimer:** Nope, don't own anything.

000

_Previously on 'The Beginning of the End':_

_For the first time ever, the Scooby Gang had broken up._

_._

"_And we're coming, before you can do it again, because you will do it again and you will destroy the world with you, if you have to. You're the only one, who ever had the strength to do such a thing."_

_._

"'_Course I followed them and I came to this very big room with a lot of symbols on it and such and they were still talking. I was trying to sneak up on them, when suddenly the principle ripped off his face and there was this big green monster head instead."_

_._

"_All the others are coming today," Buffy said, as she, too, was eating._

"_Actually," Willow said, looking up at the roof. "They're already here."_

000

"What?" Xander cried. "I thought you said that they would come tomorrow!"

"It _is_ tomorrow, Xander." Willow rolled her eyes. Buffy were looking at the roof, like Willow had done a moment ago.

"You mean they come with a helicopter or whatever, too?" she asked and just as Will nodded, Buffy could hear the sound of one.

A moment later, they all heard the voices. Voices they would have recognized anywhere, because they had known them for so long.

"See? I told you it was a piece of cake, landing her," a tall Slayer with long dark hair said, as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, we only nearly died," Dawn said, as she followed Faith. She smiled briefly to Xander and Buffy, before she leapt into Tara's waiting arms.

"What are you talking about?" Faith snorted. "We're five-by-five, right? Hey, B," she added, as she noticed Buffy, who nodded curtly, when she saw the tall figure following Dawn with a lot of suitcases.

"I have no idea of why you have to have three suitcases full of clothes, when we're only staying here for a couple of days," Giles huffed and smiled at the others in the kitchen. "Hello!"

Although, it was only three more people who arrived, the kitchen seemed to be bursting with people, especially when Kennedy decided to come down for breakfast, too. For a moment, she was sure that she still was in Brazil with a lot of Slayers, because of all the yells of delight.

"What is happening?" she asked in a tired voice. She really wasn't in the mood for dealing with yells this early, when she had jetlag. For God's sake, she had traveled from Brazil to Scotland and then to L.A.

"Giles, Faith and Dawn have arrived," Xander told her and moved to stand beside her.

"Oh, yay," she said sarcastic and sat down to eat the pancakes.

When they all had calmed a bit down, Buffy and the others sat down to resume their breakfast. They were halfway through, when Buffy realized something was amiss.

"Wait, Dawn!" she suddenly said, interrupting her sister in telling Willow about Italy. "I thought you would come later with Rose?"

"Yeah, but she decided to just dump me at the next plane to Cleveland, so I could come with Giles and Faith here," she said, annoyed. "It was actually way evil of her, I think."

"You didn't kill her then, right?" Xander couldn't stop himself and winked at her to assure her, he was just joking. She didn't seem to mind, though, because she giggled a bit.

"Wait, kill?" Willow asked, worried.

"Yeah, apparently, Dawn has taken it upon herself that she should kill everybody – also demons, who she thinks is evil. Even if she hasn't got any evidence," Buffy said this in the same teasing voice that Xander had used a moment ago, but this time, Dawn really looked offended and was glaring at Buffy.

'_Hey! How come I can't tease her, but Xander can?'_

"Well, one would be inclined to say that demons usually _are_ evil." Giles took off his glasses to clean then, as he said that.

"Yeah, alright," Xander answered. "But maybe she shouldn't just have killed him, before she could discover what he was hiding in that big, secret room 'with a lot of symbols on it', as she was kind enough to describe for us."

"Well, yes, it would have been of the best, if we know as much as possible about all these… uh, very strange things that are happening," Giles said and sent a disapproving look at Dawn, who just ignored him and was telling Willow and Tara about the 'really, really creepy principle'.

"So maybe Red here could fill us all in, because if she won't I'll just pass out, y'know?" Faith asked and glanced at Willow, who wasn't _that_ happy about being called 'Red'.

"Uh," she seemed a little nervous, as they now all paid close attention to her. "Okay. Well, long story short, Tara and I have noticed that a lot of demons and vampires are gathering some places all over the world. It's not like they're fighting, but they're working together, like one big family."

"So it could be what we are dealing with is like Adam?" Giles asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, it could be, but I don't think so," Willow answered. "It's just like they're working together, because they have one goal in common. And also, it looks like they're protecting something, but I don't know what, because they're gathering different places."

"Alright, but let's start with focusing on their goal," Giles said, taking charge. "Have we got an idea on what their goal could be?"

"Well, uh," Tara said, sending Buffy worried glances. "Well, again, we're not sure, but we think that they, uh, want to kill, uh… kill…"

"Kill me," Buffy interrupted. _'No need to sugarcoat it.'_

Apparently, it would've been better, if she had done that, because they all seemed very worried about this news. Especially Giles. He just kept cleaning his glasses, as he had done the last five minutes. Dawn was, for once, not looking annoyed, but scared. _'It would've been better, if she just stayed annoyed,'_ Buffy thought, as she looked around in the kitchen at her friends.

In the end it was Faith, who interrupted the tense silence.

"But why?" she asked, looking at Willow for an explanation.

"Because she's the Slayer, I guess," she shrugged.

Faith snorted. "News flash, Red, B here isn't _the_ Slayer anymore. She's _a_ Slayer, yes."

"Well," Tara interrupted, quite bravely, Buffy thought, as she seemed very scared of Faith. "Yes, while Buffy only is one of the many Slayers, I think that the, uh, demons are thinking of her, as she _the_ Slayer still, because, well, she's killed a lot of the big demons in the world, something all the others Slayers haven't done."

"I knew I should've taken a sick day," Buffy grinned, trying to lift the tension. It didn't help, though Xander was laughing and Willow cracked a smile.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Buffy," Giles snarled at her. "We should research immediately, to find out as much as possible, before it's too late."

000

Four hours later, they were still sitting in front of the books. Or, well, some of them were. Faith had decided to 'pass out' and Dawn was also asleep. Tara had decided for some hours ago to lie down a bit, because she hadn't slept very well in the chair she had sat in the whole night, because Buffy and Willow was talking. Kennedy had been bored and was now up on the roof, exercising.

In fact, it was only Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles, who were still researching. Although, it was very boring, Buffy was quite cheerful. For the first time, in a very long time, she absolutely felt like she was back in high school. Just she and her best friends, researching the latest demon-activity.

But she could be as happy as she wanted to be, the job was still brain-dead-boring. And she was hungry.

'_It would be way easier, if Rose was here,' _she thought, as she turned another page in her book. _'She loves researching and books. Hey, wait a minute!'_

"Guys?" she asked and they all looked at her. "When would Rose arrive? And how?"

"Well," Willow answered. "With plane of course. And she would be landing in the airport in an hour or so."

"Don't you think we should pick her up?" Buffy asked. "You know, just to be polite."

"She's smart," Xander said and continued reading. "She can handle herse… OW!" he cried, when Buffy kicked him. He glared at her, but she just kept looking pointedly at him. Just like she had done in high school, when she wanted them to skip research.

Finally, the point hit him.

"Oh!" he said. "Yeah, you're totally right. We should pick her up! And then we could also buy some pizza, because I'm starving." He walked towards the door with Buffy following him. "Coming Will?" he asked.

"Yes, you go do that and I'll stay here," Giles said, absentmindedly. "And maybe you could ask Kennedy to make some tea, hmm?"

He didn't get an answer, because they were already gone. Not that he noticed it, anyway.

000

Buffy and the others were sitting in Xander's car that Willow was keeping, because he was traveling too much. He was driving, of course. He was the only one, who did it properly, without getting anybody killed. Willow had called shotgun, so Buffy was sitting in the backseat, staring out the window, while only half-listening to her friends talking.

They were on their way to LAX, the busiest airport in the city. Unfortunately, they could still drive pretty fast, so when Buffy noticed the green demon, she had killed in her bathroom, was standing on a bridge, trying to kill a girl, they were already past it, before she could say something to Xander.

"Xander!" she cried, interrupting Will's story.

"What?" he yelled, surprised, gazing worriedly out the window, apparently, thinking that he had hit someone.

"You have to turn around!"

"Buffy, I can't do that. It's illegal," he said and continued driving.

"Xander, you have to!" Buffy yelled. "I just saw one of those demons I killed in my bathroom, yesterday or whatever. It was trying to kill a girl. We have to turn around!"

Xander was beginning to look doubtful. On one hand, he couldn't let the girl get killed by that demon. But on the other hand, _they_ would be killed, if he turned around in a one-way road with a lot of cars on.

"Buffy," he said. "We'll be kill…"

"You have to!" Buffy repeated, interrupting his attempt of knocking some sense into her. "We can't let her get killed. Not when we can do something abo…"

He cut her off, when he suddenly turned the steering wheel, coursing Buffy to roll around on the backseats. While he was yelling curse words at her, because it was her fault that they were getting killed, Willow was trying to figure out a spell, so they wouldn't get hit by any of the other cars.

'_He isn't driving fast enough!'_ Buffy thought, looking worried at the bridge. _'We won't reach her in time…'_

At that moment, she got an idea. A wild and very crazy idea, yes, but it was the only one she had, so she deliberately rolled down her window and began climbing out of it, trying to ignore Willow's and Xander's scared yells.

'_And now I just have to get on top of the roof…'_

Ignoring the cars they went by, she tried to get a good grip, so she could hoist herself up on the roof. _'Okay, we're going a lot faster, than I thought,'_ she thought, as a car almost hit her, when they went flying past it.

When she finally was on the roof, they were almost at the bridge. She stood up, trying to keep her balance, which, actually, was quite hard, because of the wind. They were almost driving under the bridge, when Buffy jumped, hoping – praying – that she would catch it and not just fall down on a car or on the road.

Fortunately, she did catch it and she quickly hoisted herself up on the bridge and she was now facing the demon.

"Run!" she yelled to the girl, but she didn't move. _'Probably too shocked to do anything.'_

She punched the demon hard in its face and quickly after, kicked it, so it fell to the ground with a groan. _'Okay, how was it, I killed it last time? Oh, right! A knife.'_ She reached for her bag, she always carried with her. It was full of knives and stakes. Very handy. But that's when she realized.

'_Damn! I forgot a weapon!'_

The green demon grinned at her, probably realizing the same thing, and it became invisible. Before Buffy could do anything, the invisible demon lifted her and threw her over the side of the bridge. She cried in fright, but she managed to grab the bridge, before she fell down on the road.

Once again, she hoisted herself up onto the bridge. When she got her feet firmly planted on the ground, the still invisible demon punched her very hard in her face.

'_How could I forget a weapon?'_ she thought, as she looked worried around, trying to figure out where the demon was.

"Buffy!" the girl called and threw something at her. Buffy didn't even have time to consider how the girl knew who she was. She just grabbed whatever it was the girl threw.

'_A knife!'_ she thought happily.

In that moment, the demons grabbed her neck, causing her to have trouble breathing. But she was the Slayer, so she kept a cool head and used all her strength to smash the knife, where the demons neck was supposed to be.

The demon screamed and turned visible again. She had hit it in the neck and like the other one she killed, it fell to the ground and, sadly, didn't disappear.

"Buffy," someone yelled. She turned around and saw Willow and Xander running towards her. They had apparently dumped the car somewhere.

"Hey guys," she grinned at Xander, who still looked very annoyed at her. "You didn't die, I see."

"No, not thanks to you," Xander scowled. Willow just grinned at him and told Buffy, she had remembered a spell, so they came safely to the side of the road. They had then jumped out of the car and run to help her out.

"So that's the demon?" she asked, when she was done with her story.

"Yep," Buffy answered, looking at Willow and Xander, who both walked towards it, to get a better look at it. "Not one of the good-looking ones, eh?"

Xander grinned.

Then Buffy remembered the girl. _'How did she know me?'_ She turned around to get a better look at the girl, when she finally recognized her.

"Rose!" she cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, Mrs.," she said. "But Miss Willow asked me to come to L.A., remember?"

"Yeah, but that's not the point," Buffy said. "We were on our way to the airport to pick you up. How is it that you're here, when you should still be on a plane?"

"Oh, I took an earlier flight," she answered. "I had to pick up Andrew in Italy, first. That's also why I sent Dawn to Cleveland, so she could travel with Mr. Giles."

"Andrew?" Xander asked, as he, too, came over to Rose. "As in our Andrew?"

"Yes," the unmistakable voice of Andrew Wells said. "Yes, this is your Andrew. I've come to help you. I've traveled across the world to guide you."

"Great," Buffy said sarcastic and otherwise just ignored him, as he went to greet Willow. "Now that we've picked up Rose and Andrew, what about that pizza?"

000

When they came back to Willow's and Tara's place, everybody was now researching. Giles had apparently woken them all up, so they could help him. As Buffy opened the door to the kitchen, where they all sat and read, she saw something coming flying towards her head.

Fortunately for her, she ducked in time.

Unfortunately for Xander, she ducked in time.

"Ow!" he said, slightly annoyed, as he looked at the heavy book that had hit him in the stomach. "What was that for?"

"Sorry, Xander," Dawn said and looked very guilty. Buffy assumed it was her, who had thrown it.

"So what've you guys found out?" Buffy asked, as they were all settled. Willow had explained everything to Rose and Andrew on the way back.

"Well, based on all the books we've read…"

"And it's many," Dawn interrupted Giles.

"We've come to the conclusion that, uh," Giles interrupted himself this time, looking slightly annoyed. "We've no idea what's going on."

The silence was deafening.

"What do you mean that you don't know anything?" Buffy finally asked very surprised. Giles had always been able to figure everything out.

"I didn't say I didn't know _anything_," he tried to joke, but nobody laughed. "But basically, I don't know why the demons are gathering in those places."

"Okay, then, _why_ don't you know anything?" Xander asked.

"Because our books suck," Kennedy put in, before Giles could say anything. "Sorry, Willow, but it's true."

Dawn nodded in agreement.

"But," Rose said, her eyes lit with excitement. "There must be something. There are so many books…"

"Yeah? Then you could try and read all these books, Blondie," Faith snapped at her. Rose then turned very red and didn't say anything again. Xander tried to make her more comfortable with joking, but she didn't even crack a smile.

"So what are we gonna do, Buffy?" Willow finally asked, watching Buffy.

'_Why do I always have to have a plan?_

'_Okay, then. Plan A failed. It's time to plan Plan B._

'_Apparently, our books suck. So we have to find some other books. But where do we find a lot of books on magic and demons?'_

She smiled, as she realized the answer.

"I think it's time to visit some old friends."

000

A/N: Oh, yeah. I'm keeping with the schedule.

I have to say, the idea of Buffy climbing out of a car and jumping up on a bridge? I actually think of doing that every time I see a bridge.

Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	7. Chapter 6: Old Friends

**Disclaimer:** Wouldn't it be great, if someone halfway through a story suddenly owned everything? Sadly, it's not me, since I still don't Buffy.

000

_Previously on 'The Beginning of the End':_

_Her old house in Sunnydale was of course not an option, because, well, she had blown it up. Or _she_ hadn't. Blame it on Spike. Blame everything on Spike._

_._

'_Angel really was the only one, who was helping her. Of course, he would be an obvious choice, but Dawn doesn't trust him… Like Xander and Giles, she never forgave him for turning into Angelus.'_

_._

'_Apparently, our books suck. So we have to find some other books. But where do we find a lot of books on magic and demons?'_

_She smiled, as she realized the answer._

"_I think it's time to visit some old friends."_

000

Buffy, Xander and Willow were walking down the streets in L.A., while they were talking very animatedly with each other.

"But are you sure he will help us?" Willow asked a little worried. Andrew had told them all about him telling Angel that Buffy didn't trust him anymore, because Giles didn't want him and Buffy to be together. Needless to say that Buffy wasn't very happy with Giles at the moment, but she could understand him. Angel suddenly working for the evil law company, could give one the wrong picture.

Right now, they needed him, though.

She was just hoping that he wasn't _too_ pissed off at her, so he would help them. Then again, when it came to things like that, he was completely like Giles. The Emotional Marathon Man, as Xander had called him once.

"Yeah, I don't think Dead Boy will be happy to see you," Xander put in, ignoring the glares Buffy shot at him. No matter how many times he was told not to call Angel 'Dead Boy', Xander just ignored them.

'_Well, you can't have everything. At least, he wanted to come and visit him. That's progress, right?'_ Buffy thought, as they continued down the street. She had never been at Wolfram & Hart, but Andrew had described the way to them. Or that's what Xander said he had done. To Buffy it had just sounded, as if he had talked about Star Wars, as usual. But Xander had a good grip on Andrew. Probably because he was a bit of a geek himself.

But she liked him despite that.

Finally, they found themselves outside the very tall and official-looking building they were searching for. On a sign outside the little yard stood with big letters:

WOLFRAM & HART

But even if the sign hadn't been there, you would've guessed you had come to the right place. All sorts of people were there. The good looking lawyers that were busy saving the world – or destroying the world, depending on what day of the week it was. Another factor was all the demons that seemed to be working there, too.

"How do you think they explain their looks to the people that don't know about demons?" Xander whispered to Buffy, obviously noticing the many demons, too.

"Probably some sort of magic spell," Willow answered him, before Buffy had a chance to answer him, which was probably good, because her answer would've been: 'Don't know.' "I can feel it in the earth," Willow continues. "There's definitely some strong magic connected to this place."

"Good or bad?" Xander asked, griping the sword he had brought with him a little more firmly.

"Can't say," Willow said after pausing for a moment. She was looking at the guards that were at the front of building a little warily. They would probably not let them in.

Buffy sighed, "I guess we'll just make it up, as we go along. Angel's probably not so pissed off at me that he wants me killed."

"Unless he's Angelus," Xander put in and began walking after Buffy, who had set off towards the front doors. "And if he is, I think we should either kill him or run for our lives."

"I think that's a plan," Willow smiled, before she became serious once more.

When they reached the front doors Buffy stopped for a minute, before she determinedly continued. The guards eyed them warily, especially when they noticed all the weapons they had brought. First they didn't make any movements to stop them, so Buffy thought that they would let them continue inside.

'_Wow. That was way easier than I had expected.'_

"Hey, you! Stop!" one of the guards suddenly yelled at them.

'_I just _had_ to jinx it!'_ Buffy thought, when she stopped, and she, Xander and Willow turned around, so they faced the guards.

"Where do you think that you're going with all these weapons?" a very big guard said. Although, he seemed quite friendly, Buffy and the others didn't miss the threat in his voice, which meant: 'Try anything stupid and you'll be killed.'

Unfortunately, he seemed to be human, which meant Buffy couldn't kill him. Just hurt him. But not too much, of course!

"_What should we do, Buffy?"_ Buffy suddenly heard in her mind. She looked at Willow, who, too, was looking very pointedly at Buffy. _"We can't hurt them."_

"_Let's try with the truth, guys," _she answered them. Not that it helped with their tense poses. "We just want to visit Angel," she smiled pleasantly at the guard, who only scoffed at her.

"Yeah, and I want to be the next President of the United States, but that's not gonna happen, either," he said and tried to push them away from the glass doors.

"Well, not with that attitude," Buffy said and refused to walk away. She did the opposite and continued towards through the front doors, when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. But that wasn't what made her gasp. It was the pistol he was pressing into her temple.

"I don't think you understood," he hissed in her ear. "You're not going through those doors."

"Okay," she answered simple. Obviously surprised, he loosened his grip of her shoulder, which was a mistake, as Buffy quickly grabbed his hand and sent him flying over her shoulder into the doors, which smashed. She motioned to Willow and Xander, who had been ready with the sword, to move through the now non-existing doors and she followed them.

When she walked past the guard, who was on the ground, groaning in pain, she crouched down and said, "See? _I_ didn't go through the doors." She grinned a bit and continued towards the receptions desk where a very frightened woman sat and stared at Buffy.

"Hi!" Willow said brightly to the woman, who couldn't stop staring at Buffy. "Could you please tell us where Angel's office is?"

"T-th-third fl-floo-floor," the woman stammered, obviously very frightened.

"Thanks," Willow answered and walked towards the lift, where Buffy and Xander already were. "Do you still think Angel will want to help you?" she scoffed at Buffy, when they were inside the lift and on their way up.

"What? Because I threw one of his guards?"

"And smashed his office," Xander grinned at me.

"C'mon guys," Buffy smiled. "It's Angel. He knows me. He knows that I hurt them, who want to stop me. And this time it was totally not my fault."

"Totally," Xander and Willow echoed.

They were at the second floor, when something occurred to Buffy. "Wait," she said. "We still have no idea where his office is. And this place is huge!"

"Yeah, it's connected to Hell and everything," Xander said.

"It will probably take us very long to find Angel," Willow sighed. In that moment, the lift stopped and the doors opened and before them stood Angel.

"Buffy!" he said looking very shocked.

000

"Buffy!" he repeated. Apparently, he had forgotten all the other words in the English language. _'Well, I've always said there were too many words, but still…'_

"Angel," Buffy smiled, moving forwards to hug him but she stopped herself. She was worried, if he would take it badly, if he was still pissed off. But she hadn't needed to worry, because he stepped forwards and hugged her.

"Buffy," he sighed into her ear, making her shiver slightly, as if she was still the sixteen year old school girl, who had fallen in love with him.

"Angel," she repeated and hugged him closer.

"Dead Boy," Xander interrupted their brilliant conversation and completely ruined the moment. Buffy and Angel turned to glare at him. He just shrugged.

"Hi Angel," Willow now also said and smiled. Angel smiled at her, too, while he just ignored Xander. He had never liked him.

'_Some things just don't change.'_

They moved out of the lift and looked around. It was a very big room that was actually rather lit up. By the sun. _'Probably some kind of fancy windows,'_ Buffy thought, as she kept looking around. There were even more demons in this floor than outside of the building, but there were also a lot of normal looking people. Either humans or vampires.

"I have to say," Willow said. "This is _very_ different from the hotel you guys had before." Willow was the one that had visited Angel the most, so she remembered the hotel, while Buffy only had ever seen his first office.

"You're telling me," Angel half-grinned and pointed to a corner, where, apparently, his office was. They began walking towards there, when suddenly a blonde girl stood before them.

"Angel, there's been a situa…" she trailed of, when she noticed Buffy and the others. "Buffy!" she cried and actually seemed to be very happy to see her. "Willow! Xander! Oh, I've totally missed you guys." She bounced forward so she could hug them.

"Harmony?" they cried out in unison, looking at Angel.

"She's my secretary," he mumbled, explaining her existence to them.

For a moment, Buffy, Willow and Xander looked at each other and then they burst out laughing.

"Harmony?" Buffy laughed. "You mean… Harmony? Working?"

"Oh, God!" Xander bellowed, as he tried to keep standing by clutching to his sword.

"Harmony? That tried to kill us?" Willow giggled. "Now working for you?"

"Well, I'm a good person now," Harmony smiled her old smile at them. As if she was trying to say that they shouldn't mock her, because she was better than them. Maybe it would have worked better, if Buffy, Xander and Willow actually were looking at her.

On the other hand, maybe it wouldn't.

"Uh, Harmony?" Angel asked, trying to ignore the three laughing people in front of him. "What were you saying before…well, before?"

"Oh, right," she said, looking at him again. "There's been a situation at the front door. A guard has been thrown through them and they're now gone. The doors."

Angel glared playfully at Buffy, who just shrugged. She seemed to be a bit calmer, although she was still sniggering.

"He said I wasn't allowed to walk through the doors," she told him. "So I had to get rid of them."

"By throwing the guard through them?" he asked her.

"Well, to my defense he _was_ pointing a gun at me."

Angel just glared once more at her, before he continued walking towards his office. It was a very big room and again it was lit by sun. Apparently, it was some kind of theme. Big and sunlit. Quite nice, actually. He sat down behind his desk in his chair and looked a lot like a businessman, which caused Buffy, Xander and Willow to laugh again.

"It's very nice to see you and everything," Angel said, when they had calmed down again. "But I gather that this isn't just a social call?"

"Well, alright," Buffy said, shaking her head as to gather her thoughts, so she could explain everything to Angel. "We're here, because…"

But she was interrupted when a tall, blonde vampire suddenly burst open the door, already complaining to Angel.

"Hey, big guy," Spike called out, not noticing the three people that were staring at him, as if he had just come back from the dead. Which, ironically, he sort of had. "You need a new car. Someone has smashed down the front doors and when I tried to drive through them, I hit the bloody walls instead." He looked around in the office and this time he noticed the three people and stopped.

'_My God? Does nobody stay dead anymore? I was so sure that he had blown himself up with Sunnydale. And he's actually alive!_

'_Hey, wait a minute! He's alive and he couldn't call to tell me that?'_

"Spike?" Buffy asked the first one to recover.

"You're…?" Willow continued, but didn't finish her sentence, as she wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"…Not deader?" Xander helped her.

"Oh, I forgot about him," Angel mumbled, glaring at his desk.

Spike didn't even answer Xander. He couldn't stop staring at Buffy. As if it had been her, who had died and come back from the dead.

'_He doesn't have to stare at me like that. I _always_ come back from the dead. Because I just can't die. No matter what…'_

For a very long time, nobody said anything. It actually took such a long time that Xander in the end sat down on Angel's couch, pretending to be asleep. Or maybe he actually fell asleep.

Then suddenly, Buffy seemed to snap out of it and walked towards Spike, raising her arm, as if to hug him. He, too, snapped out of it and raised his arms too, while smirking at Angel, who continued glaring at his desk.

But Buffy wasn't going to hug him, quite the opposite.

"Ow!" Spike yelled, when she hit him. Quite hard. With Slayer strength. "What was that for, woman?"

She didn't answer him. She just hit him once more again.

"Ow!" he yelled even louder this time. "You've got to stop doing that!"

Angel grinned, quite amused about it all, while Willow and Xander looked at Spike getting hit by Buffy. Their old favorite game.

"What the hell do you think it's for?" Buffy snarled, while she kept hitting him, ignoring his moans of pain. "I thought you'd blown yourself up. You blew up _my house_!"

"Well, to be honest, I didn't plan to," Spike groaned. Buffy had finally stopped hitting, though she looked ready to murder him. _'I should've brought a stake. Hey, I think I did!'_

"I couldn't call you now, could I?" Spike said, making her forget all about the stake. Or almost all about the stake. She was still pretty sure she had one somewhere. "It would've been bloody anticlimactic! Here I was, blowing up Sunnydale and dying so I could save the bloody world. Next thing, I knew, was I hadn't died. So I let you thought that I was dead. That I had died."

When he was done speaking, Buffy _had_ actually forgotten all about the stake. Willow and Xander were staring, open-mouthed at Spike, who only had eyes for Buffy. For a long time again, nobody said anything, until Buffy nodded curtly at Spike, before she turned around, so she could face Angel again. He had been remarkably quiet the whole time and although he looked very serious, she could still see that he was immensely amused.

"So as I was saying, before we were interrupted," Buffy began once more. "We're here, because…"

Once again, she was interrupted, when Angel's doors burst open and a brown-haired girl, a dark man, a green demon and Buffy's old Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, came rushing inside.

"Angel!" they yelled and completely ignoring Buffy, Willow and Xander they began telling him, all at once, about something. As far as Buffy could understand it was about the front doors – again! – and they suspected it was a Slayer that had come to visit them and this Slayer apparently wanted to see him and did he think it was a dangerous Slayer or maybe it was Faith, who had come to visit them and what did he think that they should do.

Buffy thought that it was about time, she introduced herself, so she coughed slightly and everybody turned their heads to look at her, Willow and Xander.

"Hi, I'm Buffy," she smiled at them. "I'm the Slayer that ruined your front doors. I don't think I'm _that_ dangerous and how come you think _Faith_ isn't dangerous? By the way, she isn't here to visit Angel, I am. And these are my friends, Willow and Xander."

"We've met before," Willow smiled at the others, who recognized her, as the witch that had given Angel his soul back, when he had lost it the last time.

"So you're Buffy?" the dark man asked her, eyeing her size a bit.

"Angel's true love?" the demon said, smiling at her.

"I always thought you were…bigger," the girl said, giggling nervously.

"No, she's always been quite petite," Wesley muttered, still staring at her.

"Hey!" Buffy said. _'They've talked enough about my height!'_ "I am not small. And even if I am, I've stilled killed more demons than any of you ever have."

Angel stood up and walked towards his team. "Okay," he said. "I think I better start introducing you, before Buffy here destroy more doors. This is Gunn-" he gestured to the dark man, who grinned at her. "-Lorne-" the demon waved. "-and Fred." The girl grinned nervously at Buffy again, who just smiled at them in return. "You already know Wes and sadly Spike too."

Once more, they all fell into an awkward silence. _'Right now that seems to be the story of my life. Awkward silence…'_

"So you're the ones Angel ditched us for?" Xander finally said, breaking the tension, when everybody laughed.

"Yeah, you could say that," Gunn grinned. "And I can sort of understand him I mean… you guys don't look very tough."

"Hey!" Willow said, frowning slightly. "Remember who it was that saved you all from Angelus?"

"And does 'The Slayer' ring any bells to you?" Buffy asked him.

"We've probably killed more demons and vampire than you since we've been doing it for…how long is it now?" Xander asked, looking at Buffy and Willow, who just shrugged. "Since we've been doing it for forever," he finished on his own.

"Okay!" Angel interrupted them. "Although, this battle of 'we've killed more demons than you' is very interesting I would really like to know why you guys have come here?"

Buffy looked at him. _'Okay, I guess I'll just go for the short answer, since we seem to be interrupted every time I try telling him.'_

"We need your help."

000

A/N: Bad me! I forgot to update! I've had this chapter on my laptop in such a long time that I actually forgot about it. Sorry! So now you get an update today instead!

I'm not really satisfied with this chapter. Willow's so hard to write in-character I think, so I apologize, if she gets slightly OOC. Believe me! I'm really trying here.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	8. Chapter 7: Getting up to Date

**Disclaimer:** It's actually quite depressing to be kept reminded that I don't own anything.

000

_Previously on 'The Beginning of the End':_

'_Angel really was the only one, who was helping her. Of course, he would be an obvious choice, but Dawn doesn't trust him… Like Xander and Giles, she never forgave him for turning into Angelus.'_

_._

'_Apparently, our books suck. So we have to find some other books. But where do we find a lot of books on magic and demons?'_

_She smiled, as she realized the answer._

"_I think it's time to visit some old friends."_

_._

"_Okay!" Angel interrupted them. "Although, this battle of 'we've killed more demons than you' is very interesting I would really like to know why you guys have come here?"_

_Buffy looked at him. 'Okay, I guess I'll just go for the short answer, since we seem to be interrupted every time I try telling him.'_

"_We need your help."_

000

This statement made all the others shout again. Gunn was trying to show off and Xander kept shouting sarcastic remarks, while Lorne was trying to calm them down. Fred, Wesley and Willow were talking about something magic. The only persons that were quiet were Buffy, Angel and Spike.

They kept looking at each other, carrying on a silence conversation that nobody else noticed, because they were too busy shouting and talking.

"Alright," Angel whispered, so only Buffy – and Spike – could hear him. He then looked at the chaos his friends had made and called out a little louder, "Hey! Shouldn't we at least hear what they need our help with, before we destroy my whole office?"

"I'm sure that we can manage both things," Xander mumbled, which earned him a glare from both Angel and Buffy. He also immediately shut up because he knew that they needed his help, because, as Kennedy had so elegantly put it, their books sucked.

"Let's sit down and then we can tell you everything," Buffy suggested with a small smile.

"Yes, let's go down to the conference room," Wesley said, motioning for them to walk to this room. "Then there'll be enough space for all of us."

The conference room showed to be big room with a long, big table and a lot of big chairs around it. It even had a big TV. _'Probably so they can watch the news,'_ Buffy thought, as she sat down. Willow and Xander sat down beside her, so they made a front to Angel and his team, who also had sat down around the table.

"Okay, Buffy," Angel said, unable to keep the smile off of his face, when he said her name. "Why don't you tell us everything?"

Buffy looked up at him surprised. _'Why do I have to explain? I thought he knew me. I never pay any attention to the finer details. Well, sometimes I do, but still!'_ "Of course," she just smiled at him. "Will?" she said and looked at Willow, who looked very surprised at her.

"Me?" Willow asked. "Why do I have to explain again? I've explained to everybody."

"God," Xander said. "Then I'll just explain!"

"No!" both Buffy and Willow yelled, making Xander glare at them. Still, with the clap in front of his eye, it didn't make him look frightening. Only funny. Which probably explained, why Buffy and Willow began laughing.

They only stopped, when Angel coughed slightly, trying to get them back on track. Though, he didn't show it, he was actually quite curious to find out, why Buffy, Willow and Xander had come to get his help.

"_We've should've brought Giles along,"_ Willow talked to Buffy and Xander in their heads.

"_Yeah!"_ Xander answered. _"Then he could've explained everything."_

"_No, I didn't want Giles to be here,"_ Buffy put in, gesturing wildly with her hands to let her friends know that it was her final answer.

"_Why not, Buff?"_

"_Because it will be hard enough to convince him to help_ me_, when he thinks that I don't trust him anymore."_

"_Yeah, I think Buffy's right,"_ Willow put in.

"_I'm always right!"_

Willow laughed, _"I only think he agreed to listen to us, because he loves Buffy. If it had been you, Xander, he would've eaten you alive."_

"_Especially, when you keep calling him 'Dead boy',"_ Buffy agreed with Willow and chuckled slightly.

"_Hey! It's not my fault,"_ Xander thought, crossing his arms in front of his chest. _"He _is_ a 'Dead boy'!"_

Willow and Buffy began to laugh at Xander again and he soon joined in, while all the others in the room looked at them with weird looks. They had just witnessed them having what seemed to be a silent discussion, because they had a lot of the times suddenly burst out laughing or gesturing wildly with their hands, as you do, when you talk.

Spike was the only one, who knew what was really happening, because he had been a victim to Willow's silent conversations a lot. They especially came in handy, during the fights, where they could discuss tactics, without giving themselves away to the demons they were hunting.

"_Alright, guys,"_ Buffy talked to Willow and Xander again, trying to calm them down. _"We still need to figure out, who should do the recap."_

"_Why don't we just _all_ do the recap?"_ Xander suggested in a patronizing tone.

"_Great idea, Xander!"_ Willow said, completely missing that he didn't mean it seriously.

"_Really?"_ he and Buffy asked together.

"_Yeah, because then Buffy can talk the most and then we can fill in, every time she forgets something."_

"_Yeah, it _was_ a great idea,"_ Xander said very pleased with himself.

"'Every time _she forgets?'"_ Buffy asked. _"I don't forget _that_ much…"_

She looked around, while she was thinking this to Xander and Willow and now she discovered the looks they were given by the others. She smiled nervously and hit her friends lightly to get them to shut up, so they could talk with the others around the table.

"Uh," Willow said. "Sorry about that. We were just…uh…"

"Talking," Xander tried to help her.

"Thinking," Buffy then put in at the same time.

There was an awkward pause, before Angel coughed slightly, "Uh, we didn't want to interrupt, if you have a silent… thinking conversation?" he asked, looking at Buffy, who laughed at the silly nickname. "But we really need to get going here."

"Uh, right," Buffy said, preparing to explain why they were here to the others. "See, we need your help, because we can't get information…"

"Because our books suck," Xander put in with a small smile.

"Right, so we were hoping that you guys would let us read in your books, so we can get this missing information?"

For a moment, everybody was quiet. Then Wesley looked up at Buffy, who looked very relieved to be finished with the talking. "But there must be more to it?" he said, smiling slightly, when Buffy grimaced.

"Yeah, alright, I'll give you the _whole_, very long and very boring story," she sighed. _'I should've known that it'd been too easy.'_ "Willow and Tara have been investigating in the Hellmouths that are in this world. And some places around in the world a lot of demons are gathering…"

"And we suspect that it's because of the Hellmouth that they're gathering," Willow put in. "We've based this, because we know two Hellmouths – one in Cleveland and one in Paris – and here they're also gathering."

"Yes," Buffy continued. "So we want to know why…"

"Buff, you're missing something," Xander interrupted her. "You forgot to tell them that they're all working together like one big happy family."

"Like they did, when Adam was in control," Spike said which earned him a stiff nod from Xander.

"But we don't think that there is an Adam," Willow then said, interrupting Buffy, who was trying to finish her story. "We think that no one is in charge, so they really _are_ working togeth…"

"Guys!" Buffy yelled, trying to get Willow's and Xander's attention. "I know we agreed that you could interrupt when I forgot the details…"

"Wait, when did you agree to that?" Gunn said, looking confused.

Buffy rolled her eyes, ignored him and continued, "But do you have to say something every time I finish a sentence? Because then we won't be out of here. Ever!"

"Sorry," Xander and Willow mumbled.

"Okay," Buffy said, facing Angel's team. "It looks like they're protecting something, so we want to know why they're gathering, what they're protecting…"

"And why they want to kill Buff," Xander interrupted, earning him a glare from Buffy.

"So could you…" Buffy began.

"Please…" Willow continued.

"Help us?" Xander finished.

Willow and Xander tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid Buffy's death glare, while the others were chuckling, but they quickly stopped, when she then glared at them.

Once more, an awkward silence occurred. Angel's team was staring at him, but he just kept looking at Buffy. She was trying to avoid his look. _'God! How is it that he can _still_ make me uncomfortable with his eyes after all this time? We said we would move on. Hell, we _did_ move on._

'_Not that it really matters, I think. He is the only one, who can still make me feel like a silly schoolgirl. Probably because he is so much older than me._

'_But then again, so is Spike. And whenever he looks at me, I kept being reminded of how low I was, but he helped me. He was there. And when everybody kicked me out of my own house, he found me and reassured me._

'_People should reassure me some more. I think it's good for me._

'_When I get reassurance, I change the world._

'_For the better._

'_I think…'_

"Buffy!" Xander yelled, making her jump in surprise, interrupting her train of thoughts.

"What?" she said very annoyed.

Xander just gestured towards Angel, who looked at her faintly amused, but his eyes were hard. Buffy felt the hope sink.

"I just tried to tell you that we needed to discuss this for a moment," Angel answered, before he left the conference room, making Buffy, Willow and Xander the only ones left.

They were silent for a moment, before Xander said, "Well, that didn't went well."

"No," Willow sighed, glaring at the door. "No, I'm sure they're agreeing to not help us out."

"He doesn't trust me," Buffy sighed, resting her head against the table. "I blame Giles big time right now."

"Yeah, can you say 'Karma'?" Xander scoffed.

"Karma," Willow sniggered, but she immediately turned serious again. "Giles really should've thought that one through, when he told Andrew to tell Angel that _you_ didn't trust him."

"Yeah, but when Dead Boy here turns us down I will also blame him," Xander said.

"You can't see it," Buffy mumbled against the desk. "But I'm glaring at the desk, pretending it's you, Xander."

They became silent again, while they were trying to listen to what they were saying outside of the door. Unfortunately, the doors were soundproof, so they couldn't hear a thing. Everybody could run around screaming and they wouldn't have heard it. _'Not sure that's very smart, when you're working with the evil guys, but then again I don't work here, so who am I to judge?'_ Buffy thought, while staring in the desk. Not the most exciting thing to do, but she had to do _something_, while she was waiting for Angel and his team to return to the conference room.

Finally, the door opened and they all sat down again, staring slightly at Buffy, who still hadn't lifted her head from the table. She first did that, when Angel coughed loudly. She jumped violently, so he assumed that she had fallen asleep. She _did_ look rather tired. He was trying to figure out, when the last time, she had slept, was, when she suddenly began speaking.

"Okay," she said. "Let me hear."

"I'm really sorry, Buffy," Angel started, not looking her in the eyes. "But we won't help you."

"C'mon, Angel," she groaned. "It's just some books. I'll get Rose to return them and everything. And she's very responsible, so she would never mistreat them."

"It's not just 'some books', Buffy," Angel said. "It's a question about trust and you don't trust me anymore, so why should I help you?"

"Okay, I know what you're talking about," Buffy said. "But you have to know that all that about me…"

"_Buffy!"_ Willow interrupted her. _"You can't tell them that it's Giles' fault!"_

"_Why not?"_ Xander asked her. _"Angel would then know that Buffy's innocent, he will help us, they can declare their undying love for each other and we can go home early and see if there's any pizza left."_

"_Okay, the 'go home early' is a bonus, but when she tells him that it's Giles' fault, he won't be very happy, and when he finds out that Giles is with us, he won't help us again,"_ Willow explained, trying to let Buffy know that she couldn't say it.

She nodded to Willow's relief and turned her attention to Angel, who she discovered were looking very weirdly at her. Then she realized she had never finished the sentence.

"'All that about you', what, pet?" Spike asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Uh," Buffy said, trying desperately to come up with something to say instead. "Uh…" _'I've got nothing!'_

Fortunately, she didn't have to answer, because in that moment a green demon smashed the window, as he jumped into the room, which Buffy thought was quite impressive, because they were after all very high up in the air. When it smashed the window, Angel and Spike dived under the table, because of all the sunlight that was bathing the room.

"The Slayer," it growled, when it noticed Buffy.

"Oh, c'mon," she groaned, when it threw her against the wall. "I haven't slept for days, so why do I still have to fight you guys?"

"It's the same kind of demon, as the one from the bridge," Willow yelled, as it turned invisible.

"Yeah, and the shower monster," Buffy huffed, as the demon hit her hard in the face.

"And comparing to Dawn's description, I guess that it is the principle, too," Xander said, clutching to his sword, trying to figure out, where the demon was, so he could kill it.

"We know that we can kill it, if we behead it," Willow said, trying out various kinds of spells that would turn the demon visible again.

"Give me the sword, then!" Buffy yelled, but she didn't catch it, when Xander threw it at her, because the demon grabbed her around her neck, so she couldn't breathe.

"The Slayer will now die," it growled and hoisted her up, so she was dangling in the air, trying to hit the demon, so it would loosen its grip.

"Buffy!" Angel yelled, but didn't come out from under the table, because of the sunlight.

It was getting very hard for Buffy to breathe and she couldn't see properly anymore, black spots clouding her vision. Fortunately for her, Xander had decided to take his chances and ran the sword through the invisible demon, hoping to hit its neck and kill it, but he hadn't been killing demons for almost nine years for nothing, so he luckily hit it the right place.

The demon screamed and dropped Buffy, who lay coughing on the floor, trying to fill her lungs with as much oxygen as possible.

When she fully came back to her senses, she tossed some blankets to Spike and Angel, so they could run out of the room without getting burned to death and all the others followed them. When Fred had safely shut the door, they threw off the blankets.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked Buffy, eyeing her carefully. She just nodded, her throat hurt too much to talk. "Then what the hell was that?"

"Well, that's what we want to find out, but you wouldn't let us read in your books," Xander mumbled and if his glares were deadly, Angel would've been even more dead than usual.

Finally, Angel looked Buffy in the eyes and she became lost. Her head felt much lighter than usual. _'Probably because of the lack of oxygen,'_ she tried to reason with herself, although she knew that it wasn't the truth. She smiled brightly at him and he returned it with a smaller smile and an even smaller nod.

"Okay, you can read our books," he said and got a warm feeling, as Buffy's smile became even broader.

"Oh, thank you, Angel!" Willow exclaimed. "I'll call the others immediately, to let them know."

"Yeah, thanks," Xander said, and followed Willow, who was practically skipping down the hall on her way to the telephone.

The only ones left were Angel and Buffy, who were still staring into each other's eyes, trying to apologize and make up without any words.

"Thank you," Buffy whispered and hugged him.

000

A/N: And the seventh chapter. That means we're 1/3 of the way! And I'm still keeping to the schedule.

Huzzah!

Sorry, it's a bit shorter than the others, but not by much.

I'm also sorry for all the recaps, but it's been quite awhile since I updated, so I thought it would be good with a reminder. I promise it will only be next chapter again and then you won't hear any recaps for a long, long time. I hope.

Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I had so much fun writing it!


End file.
